I don’t think it’s just my imagination that this winter was colder, icier and cloudier than most in recent memory. At the beginning of April, there was a moment when we thought the back of winter was broken, and then it snowed, snowed again, and snowed some more!
No matter how miserable this winter was, it couldn’t hold a candle to the winter of 1816 which dragged on and on and on. In fact, 1816 became known as The Year Without a Summer. This global climate anomaly was caused by the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. Volcanic ash and aerosols spread worldwide, lowering global temperatures by 0.4 to 0.7 C. The cool temperatures caused killing frosts and snow in June resulting in widespread crop failures and famine across Europe and North America.
The summer of 1992 was also exceptionally cold, wet and cloudy across Canada and parts of the northern United States. According to Wikipedia, it is often referred to as the “darkest summer in a century”. This climate anomaly was largely driven by the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which released massive amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, causing global cooling. The aerosols released by the volcano reflected sunlight back into space, resulting in below average temperatures throughout the year, especially from March onward.
Canada was hit hard with Toronto experiencing its coldest summer since 1891 and Winnipeg facing their coolest July since 1884.
Unlike the 1816 Year Without Summer caused by Mount Tambora, the 1992 climate event was less severe, but still caused significant agricultural concern.
Will 2026 be another cold year? People try to predict the weather in many ways such as waking up a famous roundhog on Feb. 2, reading a ppigspleen, or consulting the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Whatever the weather brings us this summer, I plan to get out there and enjoy our few warm days before we head back into winter.
