Daily weather diaries and meteorological records from Scotland reveal complex weather patterns following the 1783–84 fissure eruption of the Laki volcano, Iceland. Four diarists in eastern and northern Scotland describe the near-simultaneous occurrence of discrete groups of days characterised by ‘foggy’, ‘gloomy’ and ‘hazy’ conditions during June and July 1783. The weather records suggest that an ash-rich portion of the initial plume may have arrived synchronously across eastern Scotland on June 15th, 5 days after the first eruption in Iceland, and lingered for between 5 and 7 days. Following a 3-day interval of fine weather, a sulphurous haze arrived on June 24th and persisted for the rest of the summer. As the summer progressed air pollution episodes became shorter, less frequent and more influenced by air pressure fluctuations. The effect of the eruption on Scotland’s climate is unclear although a negative air temperature anomaly of 1.5°C to 2.5°C below the decadal average occurred in September 1783 lasting for 16 days at Dalkeith and 33 days at Fochabers. The 1783–84 winter in Scotland was one of the coldest in recent centuries and was accompanied by prolonged snow and frost through the first 4 months of 1784. During this period, temperatures in eastern Scotland averaged 2.0°C to 2.6°C below the decadal average. The duration and amplitude of post-eruption negative temperature anomalies appear to have been strongly associated with synoptic air pressure and wind flow patterns and not simply related to volcanically-forced cooling. This challenges the hypothesis that the Laki eruptions were responsible for the sustained lowering of air temperatures over the three successive winters of 1783–84, 1784–85 and 1785–86.

苏格兰的每日天气日记和气象记录揭示了1783-84年冰岛拉基火山的火山喷发后的复杂天气模式。苏格兰东部和北部的四位日记描述了在1783年6月至7月期间几乎同时发生的几组离散的日子，这些日子的特征是“有雾”，“阴沉”和“朦胧”。天气记录表明，该地区灰分高的部分最初的羽状流可能已于6月15日（在冰岛第一次喷发后5天）同步到达苏格兰东部，并持续了5到7天。在为期3天的晴朗天气间隔之后，6月24日出现了硫雾，并持续了整个夏季。随着夏季的进行，空气污染事件变得越来越短，越来越少，并且受到气压波动的影响更大。尽管1783年9月发生的负气温异常低于十年平均值的1.5°C至2.5°C，在达尔凯斯持续了16天，在Focchabers持续了33天，但喷发对苏格兰气候的影响尚不清楚。苏格兰的1783–84年冬季是最近几个世纪以来最冷的冬季，并伴随着漫长的雪和霜冻，直到1784年的头四个月。在此期间，苏格兰东部的平均温度比十年平均值低2.0°C至2.6°C。平均。喷发后负温度异常的持续时间和幅度似乎与天气气压和风流模式密切相关，而不仅仅是与火山强迫冷却有关。