1816 - The Year Without a Summer

I was watching a documentary tonight, which mentioned the phenomena of 1816, the year without a summer. I hadn't read much about it, and thought it interesting enough to share.

During 1816, there was mass starvation across the northern hemisphere, due to a volcanic eruption - Mount Tombora, in the pacific - which occurred the preceding year. People in some northern states reported significant snowfall in June and July, and frost in August, during 1816. Most crops died in the field. Many of the crops which survived weren't worth harvesting.

The documentary was exploring the possible consequences of an eruption of the super volcano underneath Yellowstone. It is believed that the Yellowstone volcano could result in the release into the atmosphere of sulfur dioxide gases at a level of a thousand times the amount of gases released by Mount Tombora. A "nuclear winter" for much of the world would result. It was a sobering thought. The documentary motivated me to redouble my prepping efforts.

Here are a few links on the topic:
Year Without a Summer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Year Without A Summer | 1816 Weather Disaster
The Year Without Summer
The Year Without a Summer | Farmers' Almanac

 

Yeah I heard about this from something on TV years ago and looked it up and printed info about it. I am much more concerned with global cooling than global warming(don't tell Al Gore!).

 

And in this day and age, where will I get a supply of virgins to appease the volcano gods?

 

Star Trek convention? *sorry couldn't help myself*

 

Not if she dresses as 7 of 9....

 

I was referring to the males there

 

follow the logic....if she dresses as 7 of 9, the males are less likely to remain virgins as well.....

 

But you need them to be virgins so you can sacrifice them to appease the Volcano Gods, remember?

 

And we are back to "where could I get sacrificial virgins....."?

 

...or the State pen.

 

Darn muslim jihadists have taken them all... all the more reason to dislike the jihad.

 

Mmmm.....7 of 9 was alright, but I'd rather have this little Vulcan. Stop and think about how perfect it is.....she's hot, and totally logical. Unheard of, on this planet!!

 

Hmmm... maybe some of Chell's girls with gun's posts are possible candidates....

 

Yes, that's a very interesting, and one of the more likely, scenarios we could see in our lifetimes.

It's definitely a situation that inspires prepping. It's a very drastic scenario that will require preparation to survive, but at the same time is relatively short term and offers a chance at a future (unlike say, a nuclear war or comet strike, or massive climate change).

It's awful to say, but a situation like that might actually help humanity long term, to thin out the population a bit, and reduce the environmental and resource pressures we have right now. Maybe it would lead to the shift in thinking we seem to need right now.

This seems like one of those events that happen every few hundred years, with varying levels of severity.

It will happen again eventually.

 

another SM post on this same topic
A Year Without Summer

 

AKA
Eighteen-hundred-and-froze-to-death: 1816, The Year Without a Summer | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

 

Mass migration is the US well before the "Dust Bowl". migration of the late '20s.

 

We are over due for an eruption like that.