Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death

The summer of 1816 has been called ‘the summer that never was’, ‘the poverty year’ and ‘eighteen hundred and froze to death’. Temperatures that year fell around the world causing massive crop failures, killing livestock and creating calamitous food shortages. The unprecedented cold and violent storms were, many experts now agree, caused by severe volcanic activity in Indonesia in 1815 and the resulting ash and dust high in the atmosphere that blocked the sun, reducing solar radiation and lowering temperatures around the globe. ¹“How Volcanoes Work – Volcano Climate Effects.” San Diego State University, The Department of Geological Sciences. Accessed October 16, 2015.

After centuries of quiet, Mount Tambora began a slow awakening, rumbling ominously, clouds of steam and ash rising into the sky. At more than 13,000 feet, the volcano that had been dormant for centuries formed a peninsula on the north end of Sumbawa Island east of Java in what is now Indonesia.

Then, on the evening of 5 April 1815, Mount Tambora began to erupt in a series of explosions that were heard hundreds of miles away. A volcanic column shot over 15 miles up into the sky and then fell to earth in a flow of ash, pumice and debris, killing some 10,000 people. When the flow reached the ocean, the displaced water formed a tsunami reaching sixteen feet that rushed from Sumbawa towards the nearby Indonesian islands, sweeping away everything and everyone in its path.

A mile-wide section of the mountain fell away leaving a giant crater four miles wide and over 3,600 feet deep. An estimated 25 to 35 cubic miles of ash and debris rained devastation on the islands, killing crops and vegetation and sulphur dioxide was released into the stratosphere.

It was late May in the following year when an article about the destruction in Tomboro appeared in the Taunton Courier in Somerset:

While the people in the areas near the Tambora eruption struggled for their very survival, the weather in England that summer of 1815 was favourable and grain crops were good. There were some accounts of mildew amongst the wheat in Kent and York and a blight had taken nearly half the hops but the corn ripened gradually and slowly and the beans came in plentifully. Turnips and clover were quite successful in the north although less well in the south where there had been a drought and in the same areas, cattle lacked water and pasture because of the dry weather. But overall, however the country rejoiced about the ‘real and fortunate characteristic of the now complete harvest of Great Britain and Ireland.’ ³Stamford Mercury – Friday 06 October 1815

The frost and snow had begun in Britain early in November of 1815 and even the occasional warmer days were marked with deluges of rain and violent gales. Winter storms brought thunder and lightening despite the excessive cold and large hail fell.

Spring came very late in 1816, the weather cold and changeable, and much of the early sown wheat in England perished from the frost. The cold retarded the growth of spring grasses and the price of hay rose sharply with the increased demand. Clover and hay, so damaged by the incessant rains was fit only to be tilled under. In Wiltshire, the early lambing season fared poorly, with many ewes and lambs being lost as the inclement weather compromised the food supply. At the outset of July in north-eastern Scotland, snow, normally melted away before June, remained on the hills some five feet deep.

In America, buds on the fruit trees froze in May and in June the Eastern states were hit with a winter storm blanketing Vermont with ten inches of unseasonable snow. Ice an inch thick formed on ponds and lakes and icicles a foot long formed everywhere in the state. Tree leaves froze, withered and fell to the ground. In July, the ice came, coating New England, New York and eastern Pennsylvania with an eighth of an inch of ice and destroying emerging Indian corn crops. ⁴Berkeley Daily Gazette, 28 August 1934

In Devon, on the borders of Dartmoor, a violent storm arose on the evening of 5 July, uprooting trees. Not less than 400 sheep were destroyed by lightning in the area, with the residents agreeing that the storm was the ‘most terrific and awful visitation they ever remembered to have witnessed.’

In late July, a violent thunderstorm swept through Wath in York, England, releasing a deluge of water on the schoolfield. The water raced through the village, sweeping away everything in its path including several acres of turnips. Houses were inundated with water to a depth of six feet and it was a miracle that no one was killed.

October brought cold weather and rain to Europe and food shortages caused prices to double with crops that hadn’t completely failed yielding far less than normal. France was saved from total devastation only by a relatively good potato crop. The price of flour rose to $13 a barrel in New York City. Residents of Mexico City woke up to snow on 26 November, deep enough for sleighs.  ⁵Berkeley Daily Gazette, 28 August 1934

The spring of 1817, although still slightly colder than normal, brought more favourable weather to most areas and slowly, as the summer continued and crops ripened in the fields, confidence in the harvest rose. The icy winds and violent storms that had prevailed the year before receded as the sun broke through the atmosphere and warmed the earth.

Could There be Another Frozen Summer?

On what will be the two hundredth anniversary of the Summer That Never Was, meteorologists are seeing a very strong El Nino and forecast that it is likely to become even stronger by the time it peaks later this fall or winter. This El Nino is expected to continue into spring. Although the effects of a strong El Nino are hard to predict, in the past, strong events have temporarily disrupted weather patterns around the world, bringing more precipitation to some regions while producing drought elsewhere. Years with strong El Ninos have a tendency to be warmer than average, but with weather, there are no guarantees.

What about volcanoes like Mount Tambora then? Over the last few decades monitoring of volcanic activity has become more sophisticated however catastrophic geological events are not regular or even predictable. This documentary on the Yellowstone Super Volcano certainly gives us something to think about. Could it happen again?