Tambora: The Eruption. The Cold. The Year Without Summer.Episode 61:41
The Summer That Froze the Fields
New England farmers endure snow, repeated frost and crop destruction during a summer colder than living memory.
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Transcript
In July, snow fell across New England, while summer fields waited for harvest.
Frost struck throughout the season, and major crops nearly failed across the region.
Mount Tambora is located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa.
NASA calls the April 10th, 1815 eruption the largest recorded.
The blast removed more than 1,000 feet from Tambora’s summit, leaving a vast caldera.
60 megatons of sulfur cut sunlight at Earth’s surface.
By 1816, volcanic winter brought cold rain, frost again. Planting failed.
Summer frost arrived early enough to kill newly planted crops.
Tree-ring studies place that summer among the coldest of the past six centuries.
Most of North America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia saw crop failures spread.
The volcanic winter caused crop failures and food shortages.
When harvests fail, distance becomes another name for hunger.
Snow, storms, and gloomy rain made the summer of 1816 visibly wrong.
At Lake Geneva, cold, wet summer kept Mary Shelley indoors as she wrote Frankenstein.
Witness wrote candles needed by 1 p.m. April 11th, 1815.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports 100,000+ food-shortage deaths in a decade.
Crop failures in Europe led to soaring prices and civil unrest.
Where it leaves off
As frozen harvests emptied barns, the crop failures crossed into European markets—and the price of bread began to ignite unrest.
Sources
- This Day In History: Mount Tambora Explosively Erupts in 1815 | NESDIS | National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Servicenesdis.noaa.govprimary
- Volcano Watch — Infamous Mount Tambora is rumbling again | U.S. Geological Surveyusgs.govprimary
- Mount Tambora Volcano, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia - NASA Sciencescience.nasa.govprimary
- Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer | Center for Science Educationscied.ucar.edusecondary
- April 10, 1815: Mount Tambora blows up | Skulls in the Starsskullsinthestars.comprimary
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