NPR ran a story this morning about an event I was entirely ignorant of, The Year Without Summer.

A volcanic eruption in Indonesia caused atmospheric havoc during the summer of 1816 in the northeastern United States, eastern Canada, and northern Europe. The huge amounts of dust thrown into the atmosphere caused wildly fluctuating temperatures, summer snow, and frozen lakes and rivers as south as Pennsylvania.

Famine spread across a war-racked Europe, China faced rice shortages, and the devastating effect on farming led to many Americans migrating from the northeast to the midwest in search of richer farming.

The miserable weather kept authors Mary Shelley and John William Polidori indoors, leading to Frankenstein and The Vampyre, respectively.

Wikipedia: Mount Tambora, Year Without A Summer.

# 2007 Oct 22