Part 6/10:
Toba's eruption spewed enormous quantities of sulfur and ash into the atmosphere, with climate models predicting a global temperature drop of 15 to 30°F. This "volcanic winter" resulted in darkness, cold, and widespread famine, drastically reducing human populations from potentially hundreds of thousands to as few as 4,000 individuals. The aftermath demonstrates just how destructive supervolcanoes can be, bringing us dangerously close to human extinction.