The Little Ice Age Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 
Hi I'm Dave Thurlow for the Mount Washington Observatory and this is the Weather Notebook. When it comes to weather the people of Europe had it pretty good a thousand years ago. The Earth's climate was in one of its mildest periods since the last ice age ended ten thousand years ago. Settlers from Norway, led by Erik the Red, made it to the west coast of Greenland and started a colony in the vast northern island with hundreds of settlers raising cattle, sheep and goats. And back on the continent the weather was so good that people built among other things great medieval that we still admire today. And most of the year there was plenty of food to go around. But, the good times soon came to an end, thanks to something called; the little ice age.

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Scientists now are still figuring out why it happened. But, they know that the Earth's temperature fell about one to two degrees Fahrenheit between the years of 1300 and 1850. Sunspot records indicate that the Sun may have been about a quarter of a percent bigger than it is now. And there were also lots of volcanic eruptions kicking up dust and blocking the sum. Whatever the cause it was a bit chilly for about five hundred years in the northern lattitudes.

Since the little ice age ended the Earth has been gradually warming up but the story of the Norwegian colony of Greenland remains a chilly tale.

The group was cutoff from Europe by the sea ice in the late 14th century. A hundred years later German ships came upon the Greenland colony and all that was left of the once thriving community was one frozen corpse. Victim of the little ice age.

Thanks today to contributing writer Bob Henson. Our show is underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.