Tree ring laboratory ⋅ Page 1

A Dark and Fiery Day

Mystery of Infamous 'New England Dark Day' Solved by Tree Rings

Erin McMurry, research assistant in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ Tree Ring Laboratory, and colleagues base their conclusion on tree ring records from fire-damaged trees around North America. In the International Journal of Wildland Fire, the researchers report that 1780 was a big year for forest fires in eastern North America, due in part to drought around the Great Lakes.