Scotland’s deadly ‘Year of Yellow Snow’ in spotlight

Researchers publish study into volcanic eruptions in Iceland that caused thousands of deaths in the UK due to sulphuric gases, writes Rebekah Mcvey

RESEARCHERS have published the first study examining how Scotland was impacted by one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions of the last millennium.

On June 8, 1783, a series of volcanic eruptions started at the Laki fissure in Iceland, lasting until the following February, and caused a winter known in Scotland as “the Year of Yellow Snow”.

Tens of thousands died from respiratory failure caused by the sulphuric gases, while others died during the extremely cold winter that followed.

The eruptions of 1783 were 10 times the size of Iceland’s 2010 volcanic eruption.

Laki was responsible for 20,000 excess deaths in England – but until now very little was known about its impact in Scotland.

Professor Alastair Dawson and Dr Martin Kirkbride, from Dundee University’s Geography and Environmental Sciences department, have studied climate and air quality in Scotland in the years following the eruption.

The researchers used historic weather diaries from Dalkeith, Edinburgh and Morayshire, as well as the diary of Janet Burnet of Aberdeenshire, who described daily weather phenomena and farming observations.

The diaries noted that on June 15, a week after the start of the Laki eruption, “dark and gloomy” conditions occurred across eastern and northern Scotland, and persisted until June 21.

Following a three-day interval of fine weather, a remarkable sulphurous haze arrived on June 24 and stayed for the rest of the summer.

Dr Kirkbride said: “The winter that followed Laki was as severe as any on record for Scotland but, from the data we gathered, it is impossible to say there was definite cause and effect.

“Researching these diaries, held at the National Library of Scotland and National Records of Scotland, makes an invaluable contribution to how we understand the impact of the Laki eruptions in Scotland.

“They record temperature, wind direction, atmospheric pressure, hours of sunshine and precipitation, and we have used this information to gain a deeper understanding of what happened in Scotland climatically as a result of Laki. It’s significant that the chronology and meteorology of haze occurrence in Scotland during the summer of 1783 has clear implications for any future Laki-type eruption, which has the capacity to create a major public health crisis across Europe.”

Professor Dawson added: “This was the period of the Scottish Enlightenment, when families of means would purchase barometers and thermometers, and indulge in meteorology as a hobby.

“The diaries are a result of this, and a wonderful resource that has enabled us to study historical Scottish climate change based on data never before seen.

“Janet Burnet’s diary talks of hazy, foggy days and the leaves turning yellow and the crops black.

“In the western Highlands many referred to the winter of 1783-84 as the Bliadhne nan Sneachda Bhuidhe – ‘the Year of the Yellow Snow’.”