William K. Klingaman

“Twenty-four hours after Tambora erupted, the ash cloud had expanded to cover an area approximately the size of Australia. Air temperatures in the region plunged dramatically, perhaps as much as twenty degrees Fahrenheit. Then a light southeasterly breeze sprang up, and over the next several days most of the ash cloud drifted over the islands west and northwest of Tambora. By the time the cloud finally departed, villages within twenty miles of the volcano were covered with ash nearly forty inches thick; those a hundred miles away found eight to ten inches of ash on the ground.”
― William K. Klingaman, The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History

“And on the morning of July 18, an eight-year-old girl living in Bath chose to awaken her aunt, a devout believer in the prophecy, by screaming “Aunt, Aunt, the World’s at an end!” The words so startled the poor woman that she fell into a coma, and remained insensate throughout the following day.”
― William K. Klingaman, The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History