Ireland: 2010 Winter most severe since 1741 when 480,000 died

We haven’t seen weather this cold since the Great Irish Frost of 1740-1741 which killed about one fifth of the Irish population.Back then Ireland’s population was only 2.4 million. But as many as 480,000 people are thought to have died during the “Great Frost” which swept across Ireland between 1739 and 1741 during 21 months of bizarre weather.

Trinity College history professor David Dickson’s book “Arctic Ireland” explores the event. Mr Dickson says it “remains to this day the longest period of extreme cold in modern European history....

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