Earlier today I received a picture from an aunt in South Carolina showing that it was 107 °F. As much as I love summer, sometimes it is just too hot to exist outside. It is on these days that some of us can find ourselves longing for a bit of winter to break up the summer. Well apparently, that happened in the year 1816, also known as the year without a summer.
On April 5, 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia exploded in the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history. The eruption was 10 times more powerful than Krakatoa. While the heavier particles from the eruption fell back to the ground, the lighter particles, such as sulfur dioxide, made their way into the stratosphere. The resulting cloud of aerosols was the size of Australia and caused global temperatures to drop 2-7 °F leading to dramatic and devastating changes in the climate.
In the summer of 1816, temperatures in the Eastern United States dropped back below freezing after a normal spring. Snow fell in June in Albany, New York. Lakes in northwestern Pennsylvania were frozen in July. Temperatures changed dramatically and frequently, going from above normal summer temperatures to close to freezing in a span of only hours. Along with the cooler than normal temperatures, rain inundated Ireland, Europe and Asia.
The American Magazine of History reporting on that period says, “During the entire season, the sun arose each morning as though in a cloud of smoke.” Crops failed in North America, Europe and China leading to famine and drastic rises in food costs. The rain brought on a typhus epidemic in Ireland that killed around 100,000 people. It also brought about a new, more deadly strain of cholera in India that spread across Asia killing millions.
Among the devastation, there were some surprising positives that came from the foul weather. The high cost of oats for feeding horses may have led Karl Drais to invent the precursor to the bicycle as a new, horseless means of transportation. The poor weather also resulted in Mary Shelley writing her famous novel, Frankenstein, while stuck inside on a holiday.
The effects of the eruption eventually faded, and the seasons returned to normal. The memory of snow may seem appealing on a day with a heat index over 100, but knowing how devastating that can be, I am grateful for the heat. I am even more grateful to live in age with air conditioning and plentiful ice cream.
Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy or to stump your in-laws.
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