Climate & Environment in the 18th century

222 sourced entries, 1700 CE to 1799 CE, oldest first. Also see Climate & Environment across every century or everything else in the 18th century.

• 1700January 26 – At approximately 9 p.m., the Cascadia earthquake occurs in the Pacific Northwest, with an estimated moment magnitude of 8.7–9.2. This megathrust earthquake ruptures about 1,000 km of the Cascadia Subduction Zone and causes a tsunami that strikes the coast of Japan approximately 10 hours later.source
• 1700January 26 – The Mw 8.7–9.2 Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese tsunami records.Japansource
• 1700September 13-14 – The Rising-sun hurricane of 1700 strikes the coast of South Carolina, killing 98.source
• 1700Approximate date – Lions become extinct in Libya.source
• 1701March 14 – all illegal cargoes of grain brought from Ireland to the west of Scotland are ordered to be sunk.Irelandsource
• 170114 March – all illegal cargoes of grain brought to the west of Scotland from Ireland are ordered to be sunk.Scotlandsource
• 1702March 14 – An earthquake in the middle of the Calore valley in Italy, east of Benevento, kills 400 people.source
• 1702April 14 – Volcanic eruption of Changbaishan volcano (also known as Paektu Mountain) on the China/Korea border takes place.source
• 17021702-13: The short-lived Peace of Ryswick collapses with the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, which erupts in the colonies as Queen Anne's War. It ends with France losing North American territory to Britain.Canadasource
• 1703January 14 – 1703 Apennine earthquakes: The magnitude 6.7 Norcia earthquake affects Central Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). With a death toll of 6,240–9,761, it is the first in a sequence of three destructive events.source
• 1703January 16 – 1703 Apennine earthquakes: The magnitude 6.2 Montereale earthquake causes damage at Accumoli, Armatrice, Cittareale and Montereale, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).source
• 1703February 2 – 1703 Apennine earthquakes: The magnitude 6.7 L'Aquila earthquake affects Central Italy, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). In the final large event (an example of Coulomb stress transfer), damage occurs as far distant as Rome, with landslides, liquefaction, slope failures and at least 2,500 deaths.source
• 1703December 7–10 (November 26–29 O.S.) – The Great Storm of 1703, an extratropical cyclone, ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing at least 8,000, mostly at sea. The Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth is destroyed in the storm together with its designer Henry Winstanley and many buildings on land are damaged.source
• 1703December 31 - The 1703 Genroku earthquake occurred on 2:00 local time, killing 2,300.Japansource
• 170326–29 November (7–10 December N.S.) – the Great Storm of 1703, an Atlantic hurricane ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing at least 8,000, chiefly at sea.Englandsource
• 1704July – Daniel Defoe documents the Great Storm of 1703 in England, with eyewitness testimonies, in The Storm.source
• 1704An earthquake strikes Gondar, Ethiopia.source
• 1704Tenerife's earliest recorded volcanic eruption takes place from three fissure emission centres: Siete Fuentes, Fasnia and Arafo.source
• 1705August 16–18 – In an Atlantic tropical cyclone across Cuba and Florida, four ships are lost and there are many casualties.source
• 1705November 24 – An earthquake is recorded in Syria, northeast of Damascus.source
• 1706Adam Tas' memorandum accuses Willem Adriaan van der Stel and officials of illicit farming, trading, illegal landholding, and monopolies on wine, wheat, and meat.South Africasource
• 1707May 23 – The volcanic eruption in the Santorini caldera begins.source
• 17078 July – "Hot Tuesday" – estimated temperature in England 38°C.United Kingdomsource
• 1707October 28 – The Hōei earthquake (the most powerful in Japan until 2011) strikes, with an estimated local magnitude of 8.6 and kills at least 5,000 people.source
• 17074 December – The Danish East India Company's ship Norske Løve departs from Copenhagen but is hit by lightning on 18 December.Denmarksource
• 1707December 16 – The last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji begins in Japan.source
• 1709January 6 – Western Europe's Great Frost of 1709, the coldest period in 500 years, begins during the night, lasting three months, with its effects felt for the entire year. In France, the Atlantic coast and Seine River freeze, crops fail, and 24,000 Parisians die. Floating ice enters the North Sea.source
• 17096 January – Western Europe's Great Frost of 1709, the coldest period in 500 years, begins during the night, lasting three months, with its effects felt for the entire year. In France, the Atlantic coast and Seine River freeze, crops fail, and 24,000 Parisians die. Floating ice enters the North Sea.Francesource
• 1709January to March – unusually cold weather (the Great Frost of 1709) brings floating ice into the North Sea.United Kingdomsource
• 1709October 14 – The Chinese region of Ningxia is shaken by a 7.5 earthquake killing more than 2,000 people.source
• 1709Herculaneum, an ancient town in Ercolano, Campania, Italy and buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, is discovered by accident when attempts to drill a well for a monastery encountered marble and other materials.source
• 1709c. December – start of Hougher disturbances against the extension of livestock rearing in Connacht including maiming of cattle.Irelandsource
• 1709Summer – bad weather causes a poor harvest with consequent distress.Scotlandsource
• 1710January – food shortages in major cities due to the harsh winter.United Kingdomsource
• 1710Peter The Great took the first census in 1710 that was habitation-based, primality counting the number of "homesteads".Russiasource
• 1712September 8 – A severe hurricane buffets Bermuda for eight hours, destroying most of the churches.source
• 1716February 3 – The 1716 Algiers earthquake sequence begins with a Mw 7.0 mainshock that causes severe damage and kills 20,000 in Algeria.source
• 1716February 10 – James Edward Stuart flees from Scotland to France with a handful of supporters, following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1715.source
• 1716December 12 – Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, is demoted from his office as Secretary of State for the Northern Department in the British government, and replaced by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope. This is a move towards the Whig Split of 1717.source
• 171612 December – Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, is demoted from his office as Secretary of State for the Northern Department in the British government and replaced by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope a prelude to the Whig Split of the following year.United Kingdomsource
• 1717February 26–March 6 – What becomes the northeastern United States is paralyzed by a series of blizzards that bury the region.source
• 1717September 29 – Guatemala earthquake: A 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city, and making authorities consider moving the capital of Guatemala to a different location.source
• 1717December 24–25 – Christmas flood: A disastrous flood hits the North Sea coast, between the Netherlands and Denmark; thousands die or lose their houses.source
• 171725 December – The Christmas Flood of 1717 affects the west coast of Sønderjylland.Denmarksource
• 1717Most recent rupture of New Zealand's Alpine Fault, with an earthquake estimated to have had a magnitude between 7.8 and 8.1.source
• 1717Future land grants become loan farms instead of freehold, requiring farmers to pay rent to the VOC. The 400 freehold farms already granted remain unaffected.South Africasource
• 1717Assisted European immigration is halted, and future development is to rely solely on slave labor.South Africasource
• 1718June 19 – A 7.5 earthquake shakes Tongwei County in China, killing 73,000 people.source
• 1719January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish-Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydalen mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,700 men and cripples a further 600 for life.source
• 1719March 6 – A serious earthquake (estimated magnitude >7) in El Salvador results in large fractures, liquefaction zones, and a sulphuric gas leak. It destroys houses, churches and monasteries.source
• 1719May 25 – An earthquake in Turkey damages İzmit and Istanbul, damaging some city walls and ruining mosques and palaces.source
• 1719Earliest known record of Belhaven Brewery near Dunbar.Scotlandsource
• 172113 and 14 November, the 1721 Madras cyclone struck Madras (now Chennai)Indiasource
• 1721Drought severely affects South East African gardening efforts, with temperatures too high and no consistent rainy season.South Africasource
• 1721Elephant herds disappeared from the Delagoa region, affecting the VOC ivory trade.South Africasource
• 17229 May – General election ends, resulting in a landslide victory for the Whig government of Robert Walpole which increases its majority in the House of Commons to 220.United Kingdomsource
• 1722September 23 – La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans), recently established by France as the capital of the Louisiana Territory is hit by what is later called the "Great Hurricane of 1722", starting with 7 ft high waves, followed by winds in excess of 100 mph. By September 24, "Almost every public building in New Orleans, from the hospital to the cathedral" is "either unroofed or totally ruined."source
• 1726September 16 – An earthquake strikes Sicily and kills 226 people in Palermo.source
• 1726November – Mary Toft allegedly gives birth to 16 rabbits in England; the story is later revealed to be a hoax.source
• 1727November 18 – Tabriz earthquake, Persia kills 77,000.source
• 17291 May – a tornado destroys buildings in Sussex and Kent.United Kingdomsource
• 1730July 8 – 1730 Valparaíso earthquake: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.1 strikes Valparaíso, in modern-day Chile but at this time in the Viceroyalty of Peru.source
• 1730September 1 – A volcano erupts on Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands and threatens the Spanish inhabitants. On Gran Canaria, the regent of the islands reports to Madrid that the flames are visible even from 130 mi away.source
• 1730Naval shipworms damaged wooden dike supports, threatened the Netherlands' flood defense and prompted engineering improvements.Netherlandssource
• 1732September 16 – The magnitude 5.8 Montreal earthquake occurs in Quebec (New France).source
• 1733July 15 – A hurricane off of the coast of the Florida Keys wrecks at least 17 Spanish ships.source
• 1733Undated – with an average Central England temperature of 10.50 °C, this is the hottest calendar year for which reliable records exist until being exceeded in 1834.United Kingdomsource
• 173529 January – The Kemeys baronetcy of Cefn Mabli becomes extinct on the death of Sir Charles Kemeys, 4th Baronet. His property at Cefn Mably is inherited by Sir Charles Tynte, 5th Baronet.Walessource
• 1736March 18 – the House of Commons of Ireland passes resolutions condemning the tithe of agistment on pasturage for dry and barren cattle.Irelandsource
• 1737February 20 – Foreign Minister Germain Louis Chauvelin is dismissed by Louis XV's Chief Minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury.Francesource
• 1737October 16 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.3 occurs off the shore of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Tsunamis up to 60 m high follow in the Pacific ocean.source
• 1739January 3 – A 7.6 earthquake shakes the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China killing 50,000 people.source
• 1739July–August – wet summer, affecting the harvest and the cutting of turf.Irelandsource
• 173925 December–February 1740 – the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in southern England and Ireland.United Kingdomsource
• 173927 December–February 1740 – the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in which the River Liffey froze over, and citizens "walked and recreated themselves upon the ice".Irelandsource
• 1739December 30– Months of unseasonably cold weather begin in Ireland, precipitating the Irish Famine of 1740, known as Bliain an Áir ("The Year of Slaughter"). A January 5 dispatch from Dublin to the Stamford Mercury says "Since last Wednesday we have had the most violent cold Weather that was ever known in this Kingdom; hard Frost began that evening, which has continued ever since with a very stormy Wind at South-East." At least 13% of Ireland's population dies of starvation in the year that follows.source
• 173984,000 farmers revolt in the province of Iwaki in Japan.source
• 1739A Plinian eruption of Mount Tarumae volcano occurs in Japan.source
• 1740January–February: the 'Great Frost' continues: unusually harsh winter followed by a Spring drought.Irelandsource
• 1740January–February – the "Great Frost" continues; this will be the coldest known year (and coldest twelve-month period) by average annual temperature across central England for which reliable records are known.United Kingdomsource
• 1740June–December – exceptionally cold weather, leading to the Great Irish Famine (1740–1741).Irelandsource
• 1740Conolly's Folly in the grounds of Castletown House, County Kildare, commissioned by Katherine Conolly from architect Richard Cassels, is erected to provide employment for hundreds of the poor of Celbridge during the Famine.Irelandsource
• 1741January–April – Great Irish Famine (1740–1741) at its height.Irelandsource
• 1741June–August – hot summer. The harvest is improved, but disease encouraged.Irelandsource
• 1741August 23 – At least 2,000 die along the shores of the Sea of Japan after a volcanic eruption on an island generated the Kampo Tsunami.source
• 1743January 12 – An earthquake strikes the Philippinessource
• 17433-11 December - The Great Flood of 1743.Norwaysource
• 1744c. October – wet and cold season, leading to oats and potatoes being spoiled in the north – the 'rot year'.Irelandsource
• 1745Autumn – Meikleour Beech Hedges planted.Scotlandsource
• 1746October 28 – An earthquake demolishes Lima and Callao, in Peru.source
• 1746A volcanic eruption took place near Lake Mývatn.Icelandsource
• 1747October 24 – A Caribbean Sea hurricane sweeps across Saint Kitts, sinking 12 British freighters and one from France.source
• 1747December 13 – The ordeal of the Maryland freighter sloop Endeavour begins when the ship departs Annapolis for the West Indies and encounters a hurricane. With its masts and rigging torn away, the ship drifts for six months before finally ending up at the island of Tiree off the coast of Scotlandsource
• 1749An earthquake occurred in Southern Iceland.Icelandsource
• 1749Lewis Evans - A Map of Pensilvania, New Jersey, New York and the three Delaware counties, including notes on thunder and lightningWalessource
• 17508 February – an earthquake is felt in London.United Kingdomsource
• 17508 March – a second more powerful earthquake is felt in London.United Kingdomsource
• 1750June 19 – At a time when mountain climbing is still relatively uncommon, Eggert Ólafsson and Bjarni Pálsson scale their first peak, the 4,892 foot high Icelandic volcano, Hekla.source
• 1752July 30 - An earthquake occurred in Edirne and affected the region all the way to Bulgaria.source
• 1752November 3 – A hurricane destroys the Spanish settlement on Florida's Santa Rosa Island, leaving only two buildings standing; the remaining residents decide to move from the barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico and to start a settlement on the nearby mainland and construct the Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola, which later forms the nucleus of the city of Pensacola, Florida.source
• 1752An earthquake occurs in Southern Iceland.Icelandsource
• 1754September 2 – A powerful earthquake strikes Constantinople shortly after 9 o'clock in the evening. A Scottish physician, Mordach Mackenzie, reports in a letter that the tremor damaged or destroyed numerous buildings and comments, "Some say there were 2000 people destroyed by this calamity, in the town and suburbs; some 900; and others reduce them to 60, who, by what I have seen, are nearer the truth."source
• 175525 March – Landslip at Whitestone Cliff in the Hambleton Hills of North Yorkshire.United Kingdomsource
• 1755September 2 – A powerful hurricane strikes the east coast of the British colony of North Carolina, killing 150 people and sinking five British and colonial merchant ships at Portsmouth Island.source
• 1755September 11: A major earthquake strikes Skjálfandi in Northern Iceland, causing damage in the area.Icelandsource
• 1755October 17 – The Mount Katla volcano erupts in Iceland and continues ejecting ash for the next 120 days, finally ceasing on February 13. An estimated 1.5 cubic kilometers (1.5 billion cubic meters or 53 billion cubic feet) of tephra is discharged by the volcano.source
• 17551 November – the Spanish Arch in Galway is partially destroyed by a tsunami generated by the Lisbon earthquake which is felt across Munster.Irelandsource
• 17551 November – Lisbon earthquake felt in Scotland.Scotlandsource
• 1755November 18 – The 1755 Cape Ann earthquake occurs in the vicinity of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, causing extensive damage.source
• 17566 October – hurricane hits Britain causing large losses of corn and other crops.United Kingdomsource
• 1756King Frederick the Great of Prussia forces his country's peasants to grow the unpopular and obscure potato.source
• 1756The Canadiens, suffering from smallpox and famine, are burthened with the support of their Indian allies.Canadasource
• 175910 August – Bordeaux earthquake.Francesource
• 1759October 30 – Near East earthquakes of 1759: The first event in an earthquake doublet occurs to the north of the Sea of Galilee, with a surface wave magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII–IX (Severe–Violent). About 2,000 are killed in Safed.source
• 1759November 25 – Near East earthquakes of 1759: The second and stronger event in an earthquake doublet occurs to the east of Beirut, with a surface wave magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), destroying all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.source
• 1759Henry Flood enters the Parliament of Ireland as a member for Kilkenny.Irelandsource
• 1760July 3 – A lightning strike causes a major fire at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in England.source
• 17603 July – a lightning strike causes a major fire at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard; substantial rebuilding follows.United Kingdomsource
• 1760A Patriot Party under the leadership of Henry Flood, appears in the Irish House of Representatives.Irelandsource
• 1761February 8 – An earthquake in London breaks chimneys in Limehouse and Poplar.source
• 17618 February – an earthquake in London breaks chimneys in Limehouse and Poplar.United Kingdomsource
• 1761March 8 – A second earthquake occurs in North London, Hampstead and Highgate.source
• 17618 March – a second earthquake occurs in North London, Hampstead and Highgate.United Kingdomsource
• 1761March 31 – An 8.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, with effects felt as far north as Scotland, but few deaths are reported because of censorship by the Portuguese government.source
• 1761May 4 – The first multiple death tornado in the 13 American colonies strikes Charleston, South Carolina, killing eight people and sinking five ships in harbor.source
• 176114 October – Great Malvern Tornado.United Kingdomsource
• 1761November 11 – The Earl of Egremont, serving as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, initiated a policy which forbids the issuing of any land grants to white settlers in territory occupied by the American Indian tribes.source
• 1762April 2 – A powerful earthquake along the border between modern-day Bangladesh and Myanmar causes a tsunami in the Bay of Bengal that kills at least 200 people.source
• 1762A census was conducted in Iceland, however it is considered to be imperfect, and only the heads of household are recorded.Icelandsource
• 1763June 28 – A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shakes Hungary and Slovakia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Damage is limited, but 83 are killed.source
• 1763Little Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, is damaged in an earthquake.source
• 1764June 29 – One of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded hits Woldegk, Germany.source
• 1764Voltaire - Dictionnaire philosophiquesource
• 1765Reserve system in Canada begins with the provision of a tract of land for the Maliseet tribe.Canadasource
• 1766August 13 – A hurricane sweeps across the French island colony of Martinique, killing more than 400 people and destroying the plantation owned by Joseph-Gaspard de La Pagerie, the father of the future French Empress Joséphine.source
• 1766September – "Bread and butter riots": civil unrest across England following a poor harvest.United Kingdomsource
• 1766Hekla erupted, producing the second largest lava flow, 1.3 km 3 (0.31 cu mi) covering 65 km 2 (25 sq mi), and third largest tephra volume, 0.24 km 3 (0.058 cu mi), of any Icelandic volcano during the inhabited era.Icelandsource
• 1767November 14 – The Timucua Indian tribe, native to central Florida, becomes extinct with the death of the last speaker of the Timucuan language, Juan Alonso Cabale. Eight years earlier, the last 95 surviving Timucuan people had been forcibly relocated by the Spanish colonial government to Guanabacoa, a township in western Cuba.source
• 1768April 4 – The Cotopaxi volcano erupts in what is now Ecuador, at the time part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada, covering the towns of Hambato and Tacunga with ash, but not causing fatalities.source
• 1768October 15 – A powerful hurricane sweeps across Cuba during the Festival of Santa Teresa, killing hundreds of people. Spain's King Carlos III begins a precedent of ordering the colonial government to fund disaster relief, a task previously left to the Catholic Church.source
• 1768The Steller's sea cow, discovered on Bering Island in 1741, is driven to extinction.source
• 1769February–April – John Wilkes is expelled from Parliament three times in the Middlesex election affair.United Kingdomsource
• 1769September – Massive droughts in Bengal lead to the Bengal famine of 1770, in which ten million people, a third of the population, will die, the worst natural disaster in human history (in terms of lives lost).source
• 1770June 3 – The 7.5 Mw Port-au-Prince earthquake affects the French colony of Saint-Domingue with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 250 or more.source
• 17703 June – The 7.5 Mw Port-au-Prince earthquake affects the French colony of Saint-Domingue with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 250 or moreFrancesource
• 177116 November – During the night, Solway Moss, on the Cumberland border, bursts, flooding local farms and settlements.Scotlandsource
• 1772August 12 – The volcano Mount Papandayan in West Java erupts and partially collapses, the debris avalanche killing several thousand.source
• 1772September – The legal manufacture of Brännvin for personal use is banned because of the crop's failure.Swedensource
• 1772Iolo Morganwg - Dagrau yr AwenWalessource
• 177322 April - An earthquake occurs in the Caernarfon area, with an estimated strength of 3.7.Walessource
• 17739 May – Hunger riots in Bordeaux.Francesource
• 1773May – England and Wales Precipitation totals 151.8 mm, the wettest May on record and the solitary still-standing record wet month from the eighteenth century.United Kingdomsource
• 1773July 29 (Feast of St Martha) – Guatemala earthquake: The Santa Marta earthquake hits, with an estimated epicentral magnitude of 7.5 M i , striking Guatemala; numerous aftershocks last until December. The city of Antigua Guatemala is virtually destroyed, leading to the decision to move the country's capital to La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción.source
• 1773The population death rate doubles and the child mortality rate rose to 49% in of newborns under the age of five, due to famine and dysentery caused by crop failures in the previous years.Swedensource
• 1774To avoid severe flooding, Martinsborough, North Carolina is moved to higher ground 3 mi west. The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Martinsborough as the new seat of Pitt County, 3 years after its founding.source
• 1775August 29 – September 12 – The Independence Hurricane from South Carolina to Nova Scotia kills 4,170, mostly fishermen and sailors.source
• 17758 September - An earthquake measuring 5.1 is felt in Swansea.Walessource
• 1775Typhoon Liengkieki devastates the Pacific atoll of Pingelap.source
• 1775Approximate date – Dark Hedges planted.Irelandsource
• 1776September 6 – A hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing more than 6,000 people.source
• 177721 July – Holmfirth Flood in the Holme Valley of West Yorkshire: three drowned.United Kingdomsource
• 17791 January–31 March – with a total England and Wales Precipitation of only 44.4 mm, this is the driest three consecutive months since records began in 1766.United Kingdomsource
• 17791–28 February – with an average temperature of 7.9 °C, this is the warmest February in the CET record and the oldest still-standing record-warm month therein.United Kingdomsource
• 1780May 19 – New England's Dark Day: An unaccountable darkness spreads over New England, regarded by some observers as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.source
• 1780May 19 – an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. This has never been explained, though clouds of smoke from massive forest fires are the most likely cause.Canadasource
• 1780October 9 – Great Hurricane of 1780: The deadliest Atlantic Hurricane in recorded historyUnited Statessource
• 178217 September – 1782 Central Atlantic hurricane devastates a Royal Navy fleet off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland with the loss of 3,500 lives.United Kingdomsource
• 1783February 5 – 1783 Calabrian earthquakes: The first of a sequence of five earthquakes strikes Calabria, Italy (February 5–7, March 1 & 28), leaving 50,000 dead.source
• 17831 May: A volcanic eruption started on the Reykjanes ridge and Nýey was formed.Icelandsource
• 1783June 8 – The volcano Laki in Iceland begins an 8-month eruption, starting the chain of natural disasters known as the Móðuharðindin, killing tens of thousands throughout Europe, including up to 33% of Iceland's population, and causing widespread famine. It has been described as one of "the greatest environmental catastrophes in European history".source
• 1783August 4 – Mount Asama, the most active volcano in Japan, begins a climactic eruption, killing roughly 1,400 people directly and exacerbating a famine, resulting in another 20,000 deaths (Tenmei eruption).source
• 1783November 29 – 1783 New Jersey earthquake: An earthquake of 5.3 magnitude strikes New Jersey.source
• 1783November 29 – The 5.3 Mfa New Jersey earthquake affects the Province of New Jersey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII ("Very strong").United Statessource
• 17831–31 July – the hottest month in the CET series until July 1983 with a mean temperature of 18.8 °C features what is still the highest minimum daily CET for any month at 16.3 °C.United Kingdomsource
• 17841 August – the beginning of the driest twelve months in England and Wales for which reliable records exist – the England and Wales Precipitation totalled just 522.0 mm – with a second successive extended, cold and dry winter from October to MarchUnited Kingdomsource
• 1784Great Tenmei famine in Edo period Japan continues, as 300,000 die of starvation.source
• 1784The Laki eruption that began the year prior, continues until 7 February.Icelandsource
• 1784Two long, severe winters following the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland produce the coldest weather since 1740 and eighth-coldest calendar year (mean Central England temperature 7.82 °C) for which reliable records exist – this despite May 1784 being among the ten hottest in that record.United Kingdomsource
• 1785January to July – continuing an extremely dry and cold spell from the previous year, several records for dryness are set, among them driest twelve months in the England and Wales Precipitation series, with only 522.0 mm for the year ending July 1785, and further records for dryness for periods of three to six months.United Kingdomsource
• 1785June 3 – The United States' Continental Navy is disbanded.source
• 178529 July - Vienna experienced a flood that left much of the city submerged underwaterAustriasource
• 1785The Duke of Rutland, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with the support of William Pitt, successfully steers a liberal trade measure through the Parliament of Ireland, initially against the opposition of Henry Grattan and Henry Flood. However the Foxite opposition in the House of Commons of Great Britain so emasculates the measure with amendments that it is rejected in its new form in Ireland.Irelandsource
• 1786June 10 – An earthquake-caused landslide dam on the Dadu River gives way, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.source
• 17861 September to 30 November – at 7.50 °C, this is the equal coolest autumn in the CET series with that of 1676, and the coolest since monthly data are accurate to a tenth of a degree.United Kingdomsource
• 1786September 2 – A hurricane strikes Barbados.source
• 1786Hester Lynch Piozzi - Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., during the last twenty years of his lifeWalessource
• 1787The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Waynesborough, and designates it the seat for Wayne County, North Carolina. The town becomes extinct after 1865.source
• 1787HBC David Thompson wintered with Piegans on Bow River.Canadasource
• 17885 June – All the settlement's cattle brought from Cape Town escape; they are not recaptured until November 1795.Australiasource
• 1788July 13 – A hailstorm sweeps across France and the Dutch Republic, with hailstones 'as big as quart bottles' that take 'three days to melt'; immense damage is done.source
• 1788November 25 – Fifty consecutive days of temperatures below freezing strike France, a record that will be unbroken more than 200 years later.source
• 1789June 8: Earthquakes affect Southern Iceland.Icelandsource
• 1789July – The flood Storofsen struck eastern Norway.Norwaysource
• 1789December – First successful harvest at ParramattaAustraliasource
• 1789The Grande Peur, a period of rural unrest, begins in the Franche-Comté.Francesource
• 179019 March – HMS Sirius, while transporting supplies to Norfolk Island, becomes wrecked and destroyed on a reef. This destroys many of the colony's supplies, and Phillip is again forced to introduce rationing to avoid famine.Australiasource
• 1790October 10 – At least 3,000 people die in Algeria when an earthquake and tsunami strikes the city of Oran. The city is destroyed and Spanish forces eventually flee in 1792.source
• 1792May 21 – 1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami: An old lava dome collapses in Kyūshū, Japan, due to activity of Mount Unzen volcano; the resulting avalanche and tsunami kill about 14,300 people.source
• 1792"Year of the Sheep" in the Scottish Highlands: mass emigration of crofters following Clearances for grazing.Scotlandsource
• 1793Eli Whitney invents a cotton gin. This causes a resurgence of slavery in the South.source
• 179415 May - The free port status of Marstrand, the only one in Sweden, is removed.Swedensource
• 1794June–July – Mount Vesuvius erupts in Italy; the town of Torre del Greco is destroyed.source
• 1795January – Central England records its coldest ever month, in the CET records dating back to 1659.source
• 1795January – the coldest month ever in the Central England temperature series with an average of −3.1.United Kingdomsource
• 179511 September – Floods devastate the farms at Hawkesbury.Australiasource
• 1795December 13 – Wold Cottage meteorite: A meteorite falls at Wold Newton, a hamlet in Yorkshire in England. This meteorite fall is subsequently used as a literary premise by science fiction writer Philip José Farmer, as the basis for the Wold Newton family.source
• 1795? - A tornado strikes Sydney, destroying crops and trees in the early settlement, 1st tornado recorded in the BOM's severe weather archives.Australiasource
• 179510 to 12 February – great floods on the Rivers Severn and Wye result from ice breakup, snowmelt and heavy rainfall; many bridges damaged.United Kingdomsource
• 1795Riots over shortages of bread in many towns across Britain.United Kingdomsource
• 1795Only 12.9 mm of rain fall in September but as much as 173.2 mm in October, creating the largest month-to-month rise in the England and Wales Precipitation series.United Kingdomsource
• 1796June 6–7 – Ragunda lake in Sweden bursts and drains completely, leaving the Döda fallet dry.source
• 17973 January – three of the stones making up Stonehenge fall due to heavy frosts.United Kingdomsource
• 1797January 18 – This notice appears in the Quebec Gazette: "A mail for the upper counties, comprehending Niagara and Detroit, will be closed, at this office, on Monday, 30th instant, at four o'clock in the evening, to be forwarded, from Montreal, by the annual winter express, on Thursday, 2 February next."Canadasource
• 1797February 4 – The Riobamba earthquake in Ecuador, estimated magnitude 8.3, causes up to 40,000 casualties.source
• 17971797 Riobamba earthquake, a deadly earthquake causing between 6,000 and 40,000 casualties in the Riomba and surrounding Interandean valley. The epicenter reached at least XI (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. This is the most powerful historical event in Ecuador.Spainsource
• 1797April: A volcanic eruption occurs at Grímsvötn.Icelandsource
• 179711 August - Overhoffretten, the highest court in Norway, was abolished, and replaced with four regional courts.Norwaysource
• 1797October 23 – Peter Bryan Bruin, Gabriel Benoist, Philander Smith, Daniel Clark Sr., Isaac Gaillard, and others compose a "Memorial to Congress by Permanent Committee of the Natchez District," expressing their preference for American control of the Natchez District and their desire to have slavery preserved in Mississippi.United Statessource
• 1798July 20: The Althing met at Þingvellir for the last time.The few who had attended returned home from Þingvellir due to poor conditions, and thus ended the governments tenure at the site, which had lasted since 930.Icelandsource
• 17993 March – Hawkesbury River floods, killing one.Australiasource
• 1799Two cases are filed challenging slavery in New Brunswick: R v Jones and R v Agnew.Canadasource
• 1799Following the failure of the Pembrokeshire fish harvest, Richard Fenton imports grain from the Mediterranean to relieve the plight of local people.Walessource