The notion of an Earth ring system significantly affecting weather was first proposed by O'Keefe (1980). He proposed that the Earth might once have had a ring in the equatorial plane as Saturn does. This presentation pursues O'Keefe's idea, modifying it in two main ways. First, it supposes that the ring might still exist even if now very faint. Second, it adds to O'Keefe's ring system a second component, a ring in the plane of the Moon's orbit. This second ring is needed by the analogy to Saturn's system which is now known to be more complex than was thought in 1980.

The presentation proposes parameters for an Earth ring system taking into account Earth's smaller radius, its proximity to the Sun, and the fact that Earth has only one moon rather than many.

It is supposed, following O'Keefe, that as the shadow of the Earth ring system passes over Earth, it affects weather by cooling the shaded area of Earth. To qualitatively assess the expected effect, a visualization of the moving position on Earth of the shadow of the ring system is presented.

The consequences of this hypothesis can be summarized to first order as a modulation of weather and climate on three time frames: (i) annually, (ii) on an 18.6 year time frame, and (iii) on a very important third time frame as the ring density is modulated by Space Weather.

Finally, a testable prediction is made, as seasonal forecasts following from these assumptions are presented. The forecast for mid-latitudes is for late spring frosts in 2012, another hot summer, early autumn frosts, and another hard winter 2012-2013. Flood predictions are made as well.