A comprehensive database of strong winds up until AD 1600 was created based on documentary evidence for the area within the modern-day borders of Poland. Three types of documentary sources were used: handwritten and unpublished, published, and “secondary” literature. The database contains detailed information about occurrences of strong wind (the location, time, duration and indexation for intensity, extent and character of damage) and the exact textual content of the original weather note.

From the eruption of an unknown volcano in 1809 until that of Tambora in April 1815, large and small volcanoes erupted in succession, causing various climatic changes around the Earth. During this period, the monsoon climate zone of East Asia, including Korea, had a very dry summer, and the rice yield was very poor, which resulted in two severe famines that lasted until early summer in the following years.