  Prediction of solar cycle is an important goal of Solar Physics both because
it serves as a touchstone for our understanding of the sun and also because of
its societal value for a space faring civilization. The task is difficult and
progress is slow. Schatten et al. (1978) suggested that the magnitude of the
magnetic field in the polar regions of the sun near solar minimum could serve
as a precursor for the evolution and amplitude of the following solar cycle.
Since then, this idea has been the foundation of somewhat successful
predictions of the size of the last four cycles, especially of the unexpectedly
weak solar cycle 24 ("the weakest in 100 years"). Direct measurements of the
polar magnetic fields are available since the 1970s and we have just passed the
solar minimum prior to solar cycle 25, so a further test of the polar field
precursor method is now possible. The predicted size of the new cycle 25 is
128$\pm$10 (on the new sunspot number version 2 scale), slightly larger than
the previous cycle.
