With the weather still somewhat cool for this time of the year, it makes me think back to when I was about ten years old. What I'm thinking about would later become known as the year without a summer, which was the year of 1816. I first heard of the year without a summer not from history books in school but from my grandmother (1888-1983) and great-grandmother (1858-1964) they had been told about it by their parents and grandparents, their grandparents actually lived through the year without a summer.
Here I will say if you are in the least bit interested in your family history and have grandparents or great-grandparents go talk to them and since most of us have phones that will record with us, take it and record the conversation and save it to a file for later use, one day you might be glad you did, I sure wish I had recorded the conversations with my grandmother.
Back to the year without a summer, neither I or my grandparents knew the reason for it, but even here in the south it caused them many problems that they never thought could even happen, like frost in the late spring and summer. In later years in high school and meteorological classes in college I would learn that such a event did actually happen back then and was caused by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora in the East Indies the year before.
This was a massive eruption, the largest in well over a thousand years. It filled the atmosphere with so much ash and debris that there was a persistent dry fog during the spring and summer of 1816 it was high in the atmosphere and neither rain or wind had any effect on it. The fog redden and dim the sunlight to a degree that sunspots were visible with the naked eye. Crops died off from either frost or not getting enough sunlight.
There are records of snow falling in the north, especially the northeast as late as June. Rapid and dramatic temperature swings were common, the temperature would sometimes go from around 95 down to near freezing in a mater of hours, some of you might say just like our spring season around here. I'm sure if my grandmother were still alive today by now, the second week of April she would be wondering if we were going to have to wait until next year to have a summer.
This event was well remembered and passed down by my family, because like most during that time all they had for the most part was what they produced on the farm. I can't imagine how hard it was on the people back then, even today a weather event no where near the magnitude of this one can play havoc on farming. Cold or cool spells like the one we are having now, and at this time they are predicting a couple more cold fronts passing this week and next week dropping us back into the forties again. Don't take this as a weather forecast, because the weather is subject to change several times in a week and it could be a hundred degrees next weekend and not in the forties.
One cold spell I do remember well happen either in the late eighties or early nineties, it happen during the spring football season in May. Most local teams played their spring game on a Friday night, but Century and I believe Ernest Ward decided to play their game in Century the following Tuesday. I remember going to the Jay game on Friday night which was a typical summer night, sitting in the stands with sweat just a rolling off of you, you didn't have to be doing anything to sweat.
By the time Tuesday got here and the Century game, a cold front had passed through the area and winter had returned. It turned out to be a great night for football, kind of like late fall instead of spring. People in the stands were wearing light jackets and sweaters for this game in May. I think by July or August most of us in this area will be looking for a cool day.
The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society big event, Sawmill Day, Heritage Festival and Car Show is now less than a month away, Saturday May 5, 2018. There will be day long entertainment, free museum tours, crafts and goods, free exhibits contests and prizes and fresh grilled hamburger meals. The ASHS meets at 6 PM the third Tuesday of the month at the Leach House Museum at the corner of Fourth and Jefferson.
