Dark Day
As a Dark Day (dark day) is the 19th May 1780 passed into history. It was exceptionally dark during the day in the New England area that day . Many people believed that Judgment Day had come. The darkness that began in the morning lasted all day in some parts of the region.
The reason for this phenomenon has not yet been conclusively clarified. There are a number of theories:
- The ashes of a volcano have spread in the air and swallowed some of the sunlight. However, the appropriate volcanic eruption is missing for this theory.
- A solar eclipse can be ruled out astronomically .
- Some Christian denominations held (and in part still hold today) the event for the fulfillment of biblical prophecies ( Mt 24.29 EU ; Isa 13.10 EU ; Rev 6.12-13 EU ).
- The most likely explanation is that smoke from forest fires darkened the sky. Researchers found burn scars in the annual rings of trees in what is now Algonquin Provincial Park in the Canadian province of Ontario , coinciding with Dark Day .
Web links
- Keith C. Heidorn: New England's Dark Day . In: The Weather Doctor's Weather Almanac , 2004/2006 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erin R. McMurry, Michael C. Stambaugh, Richard P. Guyette, Daniel C. Dey: Fire scars reveal source of New England's 1780 Dark Day. In: International Journal of Wildland Fire 16 (3) 2007, pp. 266-270, doi: 10.1071 / WF05095 .