ABSTRACT
It was the strangest weather people had ever seen. In the Alps of Switzerland, people thought the world was coming to an end when bloodred snow covered the ground. Other parts of Europe reported orange sunsets that kept glowing in the sky long after the sun had set. In New England, summer never came. Frost stayed on the ground in April and ice filled the rivers in May. A snowstorm hit New York City on June 6 and 7, dropping half a foot of snow when New Yorkers were ready to see tulips and green grass. Crops around the Northern Hemisphere were killed. Potato crops in Ireland failed. In China, the rice wouldn’t grow, and people were so hungry they ate dirt. Fruit trees were frozen, and oats never sprouted. In the spring of 1815, on the quiet island of Sumbawa, Indonesia, an old mountain started rumbling.
