The Year Without a Summer

In the spring of 1816, when farmers were planting their fields, the weather started to turn colder. As spring turned to summer, the odd weather continued. Every month of that year saw a frost in New England – and it snowed even in June! There were some warmer days in the spring and summer, but that warm weather was then followed by cold snaps. As you can imagine, the unseasonably cold and snowy weather negatively impacted livestock and crops. While New Englanders didn’t know it at the time, this unusual weather was caused by the massive volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora (located in modern-day Indonesia) in April 1815. The eruption itself caused the death of tens of thousands of people – and undoubtedly impacted the lives of countless others across the globe. The year of 1816 was later called "the year without a summer" or "eighteen hundred and froze to death."

In this short video, learn about the year without a summer from historian Tom Kelleher.

[rebecca]

It wasn't a volcano. It was Queen Elsa! What do you know, "Frozen" was real! (Kidding, of course).