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The year Summer didn't happen

Trinity man

Well-known member
I have been watching a show about the year summer didn't come. I remember a couple of old timers talking about this but can't remember what year they was talking about. Do any of you ever hear about this? I remember them saying it didn't get above 70's and got down in the middle 50's at night down here that summer. I know it was back in the early 1900's. It just bugs me.
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
is this what you were talking about?


The Year Without a Summer

The eruption of Indonesia's Mount Tambora on 5 April 1815 was one of the largest eruptions in history. Tambora spewed sulphur-rich gases that rose to a height of 28 miles and created a giant sun filter in the northern hemisphere that caused the spring and summer of 1816 to be extremely cold across Europe and North America. Snowfalls and frost occurred in June, July and August and all but the hardiest grains were destroyed. Destruction of the corn crop caused farmers to slaughter their livestock. Soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry. Sea ice formed in the Atlantic shipping lanes and glaciers advanced down mountain slopes to exceptionally low levels. Hundreds of thousands died of starvation as crops failed, touching off a wave of migration to the American South and Midwest. Farmers repeatedly tried to get a crop in the ground, but each time a killer frost withered the tender roots. Corn and grain prices shot up to $5 and $10 per bushel and oats that had been 12 cents a bushel rose to 92 cents. Riots erupted in Britain and France as starving citizens broke into grain warehouses and left them empty. Violence was even worse in Switzerland where the government declared a national emergency and grain purchases from Russia were intercepted at the border and confiscated by hungry citizens.

In Indonesia itself, 83,000 died as a direct result of the eruption, most from the hot gases and many from being bombed by hot lava being ejected for miles around Mount Tambora. It has been estimated that 93 cubic miles of ash were ejected, and it took five years before the green shoots of vegetation began to poke through the land covered with volcanic ash to a distance of 250 miles from Tambora.
 

Trinity man

Well-known member
Yanuck said:
is this what you were talking about?


The Year Without a Summer

The eruption of Indonesia's Mount Tambora on 5 April 1815 was one of the largest eruptions in history. Tambora spewed sulphur-rich gases that rose to a height of 28 miles and created a giant sun filter in the northern hemisphere that caused the spring and summer of 1816 to be extremely cold across Europe and North America. Snowfalls and frost occurred in June, July and August and all but the hardiest grains were destroyed. Destruction of the corn crop caused farmers to slaughter their livestock. Soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry. Sea ice formed in the Atlantic shipping lanes and glaciers advanced down mountain slopes to exceptionally low levels. Hundreds of thousands died of starvation as crops failed, touching off a wave of migration to the American South and Midwest. Farmers repeatedly tried to get a crop in the ground, but each time a killer frost withered the tender roots. Corn and grain prices shot up to $5 and $10 per bushel and oats that had been 12 cents a bushel rose to 92 cents. Riots erupted in Britain and France as starving citizens broke into grain warehouses and left them empty. Violence was even worse in Switzerland where the government declared a national emergency and grain purchases from Russia were intercepted at the border and confiscated by hungry citizens.

In Indonesia itself, 83,000 died as a direct result of the eruption, most from the hot gases and many from being bombed by hot lava being ejected for miles around Mount Tambora. It has been estimated that 93 cubic miles of ash were ejected, and it took five years before the green shoots of vegetation began to poke through the land covered with volcanic ash to a distance of 250 miles from Tambora.

That maybe it, but I kept thinking there was another year in the 1900's. These old timers was telling me they remember riding in a wagon and it turn cool and it never warm up that summer. These guys may have been pulling my leg, but they seemed like they remember it for sure. Because they remember the cotton and corn they planted just didn't grow good that year. I don't think it turn as cold as it did in the 1800's.
 

burnt

Well-known member
In 1992 we had no summer to speak of here in Southern Ontario. It was the year after Mt. Pinatubo erupted and the ash cloud in the stratosphere gave us many cloudy days, or days when we had only a bleary , weak sunshine.

Cold temperatures all summer and the corn did not mature that fall. Most of it was plowed down as it did not get much past the dough stage. We harvested a few soybeans in December just before Christmas and many of them did not mature either.

The wheat was a decent crop, but it too did not come off until at least a month later than usual.

It was only fitting in a way because my mother passed away that spring and since she was an avid vegetable and flower gardener, it was like the earth missed the touch of her green thumb. It was the year of no summer.
 
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