When Operation Desert Storm began in January 1991 , coinciding with the first few oil fires being lit , Dr. S. Fred Singer and Carl Sagan discussed the possible environmental effects of the Kuwaiti petroleum fires on the ABC News program '' Nightline '' . Sagan again argued that some of the effects of the smoke could be similar to the effects of a nuclear winter , with smoke lofting into the stratosphere , beginning around above sea level in Kuwait , resulting in global effects . He also argued that he believed the net effects would be very similar to the explosion of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in 1815 , which resulted in the year 1816 being known as the '' Year Without a Summer ''
Year Without a Summer
Year Without a Summer
Nuclear winter