This year is the 200th anniversary of βThe Year Without a Summer.β No weather records exist for the Northern Plains from 1816, but records across New England and much of Europe indicate an extremely cold summer with numerous frosts, frequent snows in the Appalachians and Alps, and many days of miserably cold rain. Crop failures and famine were widespread. The primary cause for the chill was the high concentration very small particles ejected into the stratosphere as a result of a series of large volcanic eruptions peaking with the massive 1815 eruption of the Tambora volcano in the East Indies. These particles acted in a way opposite to Greenhouse gasses, causing the lower atmosphere to cool by an estimated five degrees Fahrenheit. All around the world, people recorded a hazy, reddish sky due to the volcanic debris.
