WITH
Gardening PETER BOWDEN
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY PETER BOWDEN
It Could be Worse… We all find ways to get through winter but can you imagine if winter continued right on through summer? That is exactly what happened in 1816; a year that produced snow and frost in June, frost in July and another killing frost in August. 1816 was known as “The Year There Was No Summer” and “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”. The freak winter was caused by a volcano called Tambora that explosively erupted in Indonesia in April of 1815. The size and violence of this eruption forced an estimated 100 CUBIC MILES of dust, ash and sulfuric acid into the stratosphere. Let’s take a look at what they endured. The winter of 1815-1816 was a cold one that started early and lingered late. This was not uncommon and these northern farmers had endured many long winters and late spring cold. April and May were cold but farmers managed to get their crops planted. By early June, the leaves were out on the trees, the corn was up and vegetable gardens were in and growing. Then things began to go terribly wrong. On June 5th in Williamstown, Mass., the temperature was a balmy 83 degrees, warm for that early in the season. By the next morning, the temperature was 45 degrees and still falling. From Canada to Virginia cold arctic air caused killing frosts to occur June 6th, through the 9th. Thousands of birds that had recently migrated into the area from the south froze to death. Sheep, recently shorn, froze to death even though they were brought inside. Farmers built bonfires around their fields to save the crops but all to no avail. The leaves on all the trees froze, blackened and fell to the ground. There was snow in New York and New England on June 6th, 7th and 8th as far south as the Catskills.
62 | SIMPLY SARATOGA | WINTER 2021
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