Cold summer of 1816
From Salem Links and Lore
The year of 1816 was one of the coldest ever known in New England. It was referred to as the "poverty year" as so many crops were affected.In Salem on June 8th, there was a slight fall of snow, but it was not deep enough to go sleighing. In the annals of Salem by Felt, he writes that in 1816 there was frost and ice until June 10th and there was only three warm days.