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Pat Shingleton: "The Big Blackout and Tree Rings"

6 years 4 months 2 weeks ago Thursday, November 09 2017 Nov 9, 2017 November 09, 2017 9:00 AM November 09, 2017 in Pat Shingleton Column
By: Pat Shingleton:

With last weekend’s time change and the Sun’s movement to the Southern Hemisphere, sunset is adjusted to 5:11 p.m. By 5:45 p.m. it’s pitch-black! Speaking of being in the dark, on this date in 1965, thirty million people in eight states and Ontario were without light. During the rush hour in New York City and other metropolitan areas in the northeast, total darkness occurred at 5:16 p.m. Later referred to as the Big Blackout, people were trapped in elevators, on subways and freeways.  The back-up relay of one of six - connecting the Sir Adam Beck No 2 Generating Station, north of Niagara Falls, locked-up, and caused a power surge, tripping circuit breakers.  A ripple effect ensued with circuits tripped all along the line zapping 30 interconnected power stations. Also, tree rings have become a fingerprint to historic weather events and a dendrologist is a scientist who studies them. Should you notice a recently cut tree, inspect and count the tree rings that may  identify out drought in 1982. Before the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, 117 colonists stepped ashore onto Roanoke Island on what is now North Carolina. The Lost Colony of Roanoke remains one of the most intriguing disappearances in our history.  The entire village disappeared and in years past, historians and archeologists were unable to determine the fate of the colonists.  In 1998, dendrologists uncovered a possible answer, tree rings. Tree rings that were discovered from a stand of bald cypress trees targeted an incredible drought that began before the colonists arrived on July 22, 1587.  This drought may have wiped out the village.

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