The Duke's Night of Sin

As you read The Duke’s Night of Sin you may think it odd that London’s late summer and autumn temperatures would vary so greatly from the usual. The reason for this is that the weather of 1816 was very unique, not only in London, but across the Northern Hemisphere.

The eruption of Mount Tambora

On April 10th, 1815, Mount Tambora (in what was then the Dutch East Indies) erupted ultimately killing tens of thousands people. The explosion was so intense that miles of thick ash spewed into the stratosphere. By 1816, that massive ash cloud had reached the Northern Hemisphere.

The volcano’s dust in the atmosphere greatly reduced the amount of sunlight passing through to the earth, causing unseasonably cold temperatures and an extreme change in weather patterns, so much so that 1816 became known as the Year Without Summer, or worse, the Year of Poverty.

In England, Europe and America, there was snow in early June. In July, August and September, daytime temperatures were cold and nighttime temperatures frigid. The lack of sunlight stunted plant growth and what crops managed to survive the spring withered during the droughts of July and August, or died from the biting cold and frosts of September. There were mass food shortages, raiding of public food stores, political unrest, chaos and protests in the streets.

By September, the Thames was frozen through and the people of London were in dire times indeed.

This is the climate the Sinclairs find themselves in The Duke’s Night of Sin.