The summer of 1816 was not like any summer people could remember. Snow fell in India too. Gloomy, cold rains fell throughout India and also worldwide. It was cold and stormy and dark – not at all like typical summer weather. Consequently, 1816 became known in as “The Year Without a Summer.”
Why this year called year without a summer? Here we explain. The answer could be found on the other side of the planet – at Indonesia’s Mount Tambora.
On April 5, 1815, Mount Tambora, a volcano, started to rumble with activity. Over the following four months the volcano exploded – the largest volcanic explosion in recorded humans history. Many people close to the volcano lost their lives in the event. According to studies thousands of people lost their life. Mount Tambora ejected so much ash and aerosols into the atmosphere that the sky darkened and the Sun was blocked from view.
The large particles spewed by the volcano fell to the ground nearby, covering towns with enough ash to collapse homes. There are reports that several feet of ash was floating on the ocean surface in the region. Ships had to plow through it to get from place to place.
As it has been explained that a year after the 1815 Tambora eruption, the aerosol which was originated from Tambora eruption covered all of the globe. The aerosol became an obstacle for the sunray to reach the ground surface freely. Consequently, the sky never showed a sunny day, people feel the weather on the earth very cold any where and every time especially at sub-tropic areas.
The global temperature in the world dropped 1° to 2.5° C and in some place reached 10° C. That is why in 1816 is called as “The Year without a summer” in Europe as well as in USA although a year after, the summer did not appear yet at both places. This condition finally changed the climate pattern in the world.
The changed climate pattern resulted a lot of odd phenomenon but also a wisdom or philosophy such as rainy, cold and dry resulting the crops did not grow, the harvest failed, and food (including animals) shortages everywhere included in European countries, Asian countries, and USA. In Germany flood occurred along Rheine River caused food shortages in many cities the river’s banks. In Britain and Ireland weather so cold, snow fell down. The starvation spread over the South Ireland. In 1816, typhus epidemic broke out in Ireland. The American sky was disturbed by the eruption ash of Tambora resulting the climate changed significantly in 1816. A lot of harvest failed and many of the farmed animals dead. Some of the arriving immigrant had to turn back to Europe because of food shortages condition occurred in the USA.