They Called It . . .
The Year That Had No Summer

It was a bad year for getting outside. It was a really bad year for farming. It was 1816. For a long time, many Americans would tell wide-eyed descendants about "the year of no summer."

Farmers in some northern states never laid crops that year; by the time the ground thawed to a tillable degree, it was too late. Many farmers who planted, hoping for the best, went bankrupt—and when farmers fare poorly, town merchants and far-flung economic interests feel the sting.

Maine and Vermont were hit by a June snowstorm; the Midwest had snow in July and August. In one night, the temperature reportedly dropped 40 degrees in Georgia. Massachusetts residents shivered through eight nights of June frost. In lower states, moderated temperatures were coupled with otherwise weird meteorological conditions to spawn unprecedented, crop-slaying hailstorms.

The explanation? Historians attribute the bizarre North American summer of 1816 to an eruption of Mt. Timboro thousands of miles off in the East Indies. Particles of volcanic ash virtually clouded a broad band of the earth's atmosphere. It sent physical and financial shockwaves rolling across distant nations where few people had heard of Timboro.

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