1816: A Year Without A Summer

No subject in the weather history of New England arouses so much interest today as does the Summer of 1816. Was there actually "a year without a summer," when "no month passed without a frost, nor one without snow," and when "no crops at all were produced"? This account, taken from The Vermont Weather Book by David M. Ludlum, uses the records kept by individuals during this period.

Melancholy Weather

"Some account was given . . . of the unparalleled severity of the weather. It continued, without any essential amelioration, from the 6th to the 10th instant -- freezing as hard five nights in succession as it usually does in December. On the night of the 6th, water froze an inch thick -- and on the night of the 7th and morning of the 8th, a kind of sleet or exceeding cold snow fell, attended with high wind, which measured in places where it was drifted, 18 to 20 inches in depth. Saturday morning the weather was more severe than it generally is during the storms of winter.

-- North Star, Danville, VT, June 15, 1816

Source: David M. Ludlum, The Vermont Weather Book, Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier, VT: 1996.