Clue from nature AD 1587

Seasonal rainfall atlas: the Roanoke drought was 1586 to 1588, worst in 1587

NASPA, 8 grid cells around Roanoke Island. Summer (May-Jul) rain as percent of normal: 1585 113, 1586 70, 1587 43, 1588 82, 1589 115, 1590 163. Winter (Dec-Apr): 1585 81, 1586 57, 1587 47, 1588 83, 1589 104, 1590 140. Ranks since 1185: 1587 summer 3rd driest year; 1586-87 the driest two winters and 2nd driest two summers; 1586-88 3rd (winter) and 4th (summer) driest three years. Stahle's window 1587-89 ranks only 49th (winter) and 85th (summer), because 1589 was already normal. Jamestown 1606-1612: summer 86 percent of normal, 53rd driest of 826 seven-year spans near Jamestown (16th at Roanoke): dry, but less extreme than in the two-chronology reconstruction (3rd driest).

How it connects

This clue from nature supports this hunch The Roanoke drought began in 1586 and also hit Ralph Lane's first colony dry winter-spring 1586

This clue from nature is a clue for Why did the Roanoke 'Lost Colony' (1587) and early Jamestown suffer so badly?

This clue from nature we read it in Stahle et al. 2020, North American Seasonal Precipitation Atlas (NASPA): tree-ring reconstructions of cool-season (Dec-Apr) and warm-season (May-Jul) precipitation on a 0.5 degree grid, NOAA

This clue from nature came from this step Checked the Roanoke and Jamestown droughts with the seasonal rainfall atlas