Home > Year Without a Summer
The Year Without a Summer occurred in 1816, after the April 5- April 15, 1815 volcanic eruptions of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in the Dutch East Indies (in today's Indonesia) ejected over a million and a half tons of dust into the upper atmosphere. The dust blocked some sunlight from reaching the ground over the northern hemisphere, reducing temperatures significantly. New Englanders and eastern Canadians were hit the hardest. In May of 1816 frost killed off much of the crops that had been planted, and in June two large snowstormA storm which precipitates snow. Snowstorms typically occur in winter and can create snowdrifts and thick snow cover. Violent snowstorms are typically called blizzards. Snowstorms in the mountains can result in cornices, which can cause avalanches. The las resulted in many human deaths as well. In July and August, ice formed on some lakes in Canada. Even though farmers south of New England did succeed in bringing some crops to maturity, maizeMaize Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Genus Zea Species Zea diploperennis ''Zea luxurians ''Zea mays ssp. huehuetenangensis ''Zea mays ssp. mays ''Zea mays ssp. mexicana '' (corn) and other grainThe word grain has a great many meanings, most being descriptive of a small piece or particle. For examples: a grain of sand or salt; see grain size for granule a grain is a type of simple dry fruit technically called a caryopsis . In agriculture, such cr prices rose dramatically. OatOats Avena fatua (Common Oat) Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Genus Avena Species A. abyssinica ''A. barbata ''A. fatua ''A. maroccana ''A. nuda ''A. occidentalis ''A.s, for example, rose from 12 cents a bushel the previous year to 92 cents a bushel.
Many historians cite the year without a summer, sometimes called eighteen hundred and froze to death, as a primary motivation for the rapid settlement of what is now the American Midwest. Many New Englanders were wiped out by the year, and tens of thousands struck out for the richer soil and better growing conditions of the Upper MidwestThe Upper Midwest is a region of the United States with no agreed-upon definite boundary, which always lies within the Census Bureau definition of the Midwest, and includes the states of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as at least the Upper Peninsu.
Europe, still recuperating from the Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. They were a continuation of the conflicts sparked by the French Revolution and covered the duration of the First French Empire. The First and Second Coalitions For a more detailed account see the French Rev, suffered from food shortages. Food riots broke out in Britain and France and grain warehouses were looted. The violence was worst in landlockedA landlocked country is one that has no coastline. There are 42 landlocked countries in the world. Significance of being landlocked Historically being landlocked was regarded as a disadvantageous position. It cuts the country off from sea resources such a SwitzerlandThe Swiss Confederation or Switzerland is a landlocked federal state in central Europe, with neighbours Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international c, where famine caused the government to declare a national emergency.
American climatologist William Humphreys eventually determined the cause of the year without summer in 1920, after reading a treatise written by Ben Franklin in 1783 blaming the unusually cool summer of that year on volcanic dust coming from Iceland.
A comparable episode happened earlier in the 6th century, see climate changes of 535-536.
