The Dantean Anomaly

Seven hundred years ago, the summer was not just bad, it was catastrophic.

The year 1315 marked the end of the long medieval warm period. Weather historian Neville Brown describes the conditions as "quasi-continuous cyclonic circulation of moist air of polar origin" - endless days of grey skies and heavy rain. Brown calls it the Dantean Anomaly, because the bad weather continued until 1321 when Dante died. It might equally have been named after Dante's visions of Hell.