In 1816,something went wrong with the weather. The winter snow in central Europe was not a beautiful white, an ugly yellow-brown Even stranger weather arrived in May. This was the worst possible tme because food crops had just started growing and needed good weather.In northern China, intense cold killed rice plants. In India, the normal summer rains never came. Crops dried up and died. Rain eventually fell,but too late and too heavy.Floods full of garbage flowed thorough towns,carrying a disease called cholera. It killed thousands of weak and hungry people.
Southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States went through cycles of heat and cold. The region got few warm days. Then there were days with thunderstorms. These were followed by days with extremely cold air. Snowstorms hit northeastern states in June and August. Even far south,
In Virginia, light snow fell that summer. Like other farmers in America, former president Thomas Jefferson saw his corn crop fail. Many northeasterners left their dying farms and moved south.