Skip to main content

Daily Synoptic Weather Map Analysis of the New England Cold Wave and Snowstorms of 5 to 11 June 1816

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America

Abstract

Daily weather maps for 5–11 June 1816 depict the unprecedented June snowstorms and freezing weather events in the northeast US. New sources of data never previously used include ships’ logbooks, newspaper extracts and weather journals. The highlight of this work is the discovery and documentation of a hurricane affecting Florida for a four-day period during the cold wave. In addition, newspaper accounts have added new instrumental temperature data including the lowest temperature yet found in the US during this remarkable cold wave. This chapter highlights the large amount of unused data still available for use in reconstructing historical climate variation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Brown, H.A.L. and R.J. Walton (eds.), 1988. John Brown’s Tract: Lost Adirondack Empire. Phoenix Publishers, Canaan, New Hampshire, 366pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chenoweth, M., 1996. Ships’ logbooks and ‘The year without a summer’. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 2077–2093.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chenoweth, M., 2001. Two major volcanic cooling episodes derived from global marine air temperature, AD 1807–1827. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 2963–2966.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, P. History of New Brunswick, 1825, (1921 Re-print edition), 133 pp. [Available at the Nova Scotia Legislative Library, Halifax]

    Google Scholar 

  • Fries, A.I. (ed.), 1947. Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. Vol. VII, 1809–1822. Raleigh, State Department of Archives and History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, K., 1986. Early Canadian weather observers and the ‘year without a summer’. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 67(5), 524–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrington, C.R. (Ed.), 1992. The Year Without a Summer? World Climate in 1816. Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyt, J.B., 1958. The cold summer of 1816. Ann. Assoc. Amer. Geograph., 48, 118–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ludlum, D., 1966. Early American Winters, 1605–1820. American Meteorological Society, Boston, 285 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perley, S., 1891. Historic Storms of New England. The Salem Press, Salem, Mass., 341 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Post, J.D., 1977. The last great subsistence crisis in the Western world. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 240 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stommel, H., and E. Stommel, 1983. Volcano Weather, the Story of the Year Without a Summer. Seven Seas Press, Newport, R.I., 177 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stothers, R.B., 1984. The Great Tambora Eruption in 1815 and Its Aftermath. Science, 224, 1191–1198.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Commerce, 1968. Climatic Atlas of the United States. ESSA, EDS, Washington DC, 80 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, C.V., 1985. Daily weather maps for Canada, summers 1816–1818 – a pilot study. In: Climatic Change in Canada 5, C.R. Harington (ed.), Syllogeus Series, 55, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, 191–218.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The maps were produced from materials provided by the author to Richard Murphy, Department of Geography, Columbia, South Carolina and his assistance in drafting the maps is gratefully acknowledged. Some technical support was provided by NSF Grant ATM-0502105.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Chenoweth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chenoweth, M. (2009). Daily Synoptic Weather Map Analysis of the New England Cold Wave and Snowstorms of 5 to 11 June 1816. In: Dupigny-Giroux, LA., Mock, C. (eds) Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2828-0_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics