The Year Without a Summer — 1816

I found this old newspaper clipping tucked away inside one of the old 1889 diaries. The year “1889″ is written in pencil in a margin on the back, but there is no identifying source on this clipping because of the way it is cut. I would guess that this clipping, like the many others that were saved in these diaries, probably came from the same newspaper that we have always assumed originated in Boston.

THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER

In 1816 There Was Frost on the Ground Every Month.

“The open winter” of 1888-89 will have a companion when the history of the century is written. The year 1816 enjoyed an “open winter” during the entire 12 months, being frequently referred to by contemporaneous writers as “the year without a summer.” All through the settled portions of the United States there was a frost in every month, crops were ruined and farmers called it the year of “Eighteen hundred and starve to death.” Snow fell in November of 1815, but there was none in December or January to speak of. Christmas and New Year were “warm, open and green,” and faithful to the old saw that “a green Christmas makes a fat churchyard,” the old people predicted all sorts of dire calamities. January was a very mild month, the sun shone every day, and a little snow that fell hardly covered the earth and soon melted.

People prepared for great storms and extreme cold weather in February, but were disappointed, as it was even milder than January. Toward the end of the month and during the first days of March a terrible storm raged and gave place to cold and boisterous winds. The weather in January was repeated in April, but grew colder as the days passed, ending with snow and ice and very low temperature. In May ice formed an inch thick on the rivers and streams. Buds and flowers were frozen, and the entire corn crop was killed. Frost, ice and snow were common in June, and all attempts to raise vegetable products failed. The condition of the farmers is described as being desperate, and they were compelled to hoard their crops of the year preceding, which necessitated a big increase in prices. Almost everything was killed, and the fruit was nearly all destroyed.

July was accompanied with ice and frost. July 4 was cold and a blustering wind, raw and uncomfortable, swept the entire Atlantic coast. On the following day ice was formed of the thickness of window glass in New York city, all through New England and in Pennsylvania. In August ice half an inch thick was frequently seen. September and October presented a nearer approach to summer weather than any other month in the year, but in November extreme cold weather began, and a severe winter continued up to April, when summer began, and permitted the farmers to realize bounteous crops.

The same condition of affairs existed in England as in this country, only it was not so severe. In Central New York it is stated corn was so badly frozen in the summer that it was cut down and dried for fodder. The warm weather in January so encouraged a Vermont farmer that he planted corn, and in fact some of it was in good condition during March.

The author of these diaries was extremely interested in weather patterns and he always kept a detailed daily record of weather conditions at his farm. The strange weather this area experienced during the winter months of 1888-1889 was a great concern to him and was a prominent topic in his diary entries for that year. It’s easy to understand why he saved this particular newspaper article about a previous strange… but thankfully only temporary… weather period.

Written by Shirley | Filed Under Glimpse into the Past, Miscellaneous, Personal

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