A similar , but extraordinarily more powerful phenomenon occurred in the cataclysmic April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa island in Indonesia . The Mount Tambora eruption is recognized as the most powerful eruption in recorded history . Its eruption cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3.5 °C ( 6.3 °F ) . In the year following the eruption , most of the Northern Hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer . In parts of Europe , Asia , Africa and North America , 1816 was known as the " Year Without a Summer " , which caused considerable agricultural crisis and a brief but bitter famine , which generated a series of distresses across much of the affected continents
Year Without a Summer
Year Without a Summer
Stratovolcano