Within the annual growth rings of old longleaf pines, scientists are discovering a previously unknown record of hurricane activity in the Southeast.

A University of Tennessee-led team has found that hurricane rain can leave a chemical mark in the woody tissue of these shallow-rooted trees that can date when storms occurred. That might provide a high-resolution, precisely dated biological archive of climate that could be extended back for centuries, and even millennia.

[Read](http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/09/tree_rings_offer_insights_to_h.php “Read the Story”) (AP via SEED Magazine)