Year Without a Summer — 1816, a volcanic winter event during the Little Ice Age
The 1816 'Year Without a Summer' caused global temperature drops, widespread crop failures, and food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere following the 1815 Tambora eruption.
Key Facts
- Global temperature decrease
- 0.4–0.7 °C (0.7–1 °F) below average
- Primary cause
- Eruption of Mount Tambora, April 1815
- Tambora eruption magnitude
- Largest eruption in at least 1,300 years
- European summer temperatures
- Coldest on record between 1766 and 2000
- Contributing eruption
- Mayon volcano, Philippines, 1814
- Societal impact
- Crop failures, food riots, famine across Northern Hemisphere
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
In April 1815, Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies erupted in the largest volcanic event in at least 1,300 years. The eruption released massive quantities of ash and gases into the atmosphere, blocking sunlight and triggering global cooling. The effect may have been compounded by the 1814 eruption of Mayon in the Philippines, which added further aerosols to the atmosphere.
Throughout 1816, average global temperatures fell by 0.4–0.7 °C, producing the coldest European summer temperatures recorded between 1766 and 2000. In North America, a persistent dry fog dimmed sunlight and caused unusual frost during summer months. Europe and North America experienced repeated crop failures and severe food shortages, with the effects intensified in Europe by the economic strain of post-Napoleonic War recovery.
The climate crisis caused famines, food riots, and widespread hardship in the United Kingdom, France, and across North America. In New England, agricultural failures prompted mass migration westward, accelerating American westward expansion. The event demonstrated the capacity of large volcanic eruptions to alter global climate patterns and impose severe humanitarian consequences across multiple continents simultaneously.