Tree ring data reveals coldest decade in two millennia began in 536 AD

September 22, 2026Dating

Source: Year 536 Was the Worst Year to Be Alive by The Randall Carlson

Dendrochronology: Irish peat bog oaks & Fennoscandian pines show a cold snap 536-545 AD. Tree ring widths plunged at 536 AD across multiple chronologies. Published 1999.

Key facts

Published February 2004 in the journal Astronomy and Geophysics
Dendrochronological tree ring evidence from Irish peat bog oaks, adapted from Bailey 1991 and 1999
Tree ring evidence from Fennoscandian pines, referenced from Bria 1990
European oak tree data shows the event started in 536 AD and lasted until 545 AD (approximately 8 years)
Period described as possibly the coldest decade of the last 2,000 years
Tree ring widths showed a deep plunge around 540 AD, consistent across Irish oak and US foxtail pine chronologies (Skiuary 1999)

Sources

The impact of the volcanic double event in AD 536 and ...sciencedirect.com

by HME Larsen · 2024 · Cited by 3 — The first volcanic eruption was suggested to take place in North America between 46° and 56°N latitudes in either AD 535 or early AD 536; maybe as a combined ...

Silent witnessescam.ac.uk

It's been called the year that winter never ended. AD 536. A year of failed crops and of famine. A volcanic eruption had thrown a vast ash cloud into the ...

Dendrochronology raises questions about the nature of ...journals.sagepub.com

AD 536, the effects of which were historically recorded in the Mediterranean and eastern Asia. eruption was involved. Volcanic eruptions in the Mediterranean

Volcanic winter of 536en.wikipedia.org

The volcanic winter of 536 was among the most severe and protracted episodes of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last two thousand years.

Apocalypse Then: The Volcanic Winter of 536ADexplorersweb.com

This would account for the descriptions of dark skies and the subsequent cooling of the Earth for about 18 months. Temperatures fell by 2.5°C.

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