[VOA]

There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which
I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years.

I'm no volcanologist or climatologist...
but I think the general observation is that major volcanic eruptions
that eject lost of material high into the atmosphere actually
LOWER temperatures.

A few examples:
1. Tamboura (sp?) in Indonesia in the early 1800s contributed to
"The year without a summer" in which there was frost in most of
New England during summertime for a year (and lots of crops failure).
2. Pinatubo: I know I heard that it was credited with lowering temps.
And I personally, I know that for about two years after that eruption,
we had noticeable relief from the blistering heat of the previous couple
of summers.
3. Anakrakatoa: IIRC, there's decent proof that a major eruption of
the Krakatoa group in the 500s AD caused major cooling (and drought due
to decrease in rainfall and shift of rainfall areas). A book was
written on it and a decent PBS special aired on the topic (titled
something like "Cataclysm" or "Apocalypse").

I don't know if this holds for all volcanoes...but it does appear
that major eruptions can at least sometimes have a noticeable cooling effect.

[Strategerist]

Boy, people really parsed what I typed wrong :-)

I meant that the lack of eruptions in the last 15 years may be a contributor to warm temperatures globally.

[blam]

"I don't know if this holds for all volcanoes...but it does appear that major eruptions can at least sometimes have a noticeable cooling effect."

Here's one that really 'kicked butt'

Late Pleostocene Human Population Bottlenecks. . .(Toba)