John Seiler was strolling throughout Virginia Tech’s campus along with his college students Thursday morning when one thing stopped them of their tracks: a candy cherry tree with an uncommon jagged scar operating alongside its trunk.
Seiler, a professor and tree physiology specialist on the college, knew instantly that the scar was the aftermath of what social media has dubbed a “tree explosion.”
The tree “had broken open in the cold,” he stated.
As greater than half of the United States braces for a robust winter storm, some meteorologists on social media are warning that these “exploding trees” are doable.
But whereas heavy snow, ice and bitter chilly can completely wreak havoc on bushes, Seiler stated there’s one vital factor to clear up: They’re not really exploding, not less than not in the best way the phrase suggests.
What some folks name “tree explosions,” scientists name “frost cracks,” Seiler stated.
They occur when temperatures drop all of the sudden or bushes don’t have time to regulate to the chilly, and the sap or water inside begins to freeze.
“That water expands as it freezes, and it can happen usually under very, very drastic drops in temperature,” stated Doug Aubrey, a professor on the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.
That growth places intense stress on the bark and wooden, which typically causes it to crack or break up aside, producing a loud bang that may sound like an explosion.
“It’s more of a sound like a gunshot, a really loud crack,” Seiler stated. “You know when sometimes you’re in a hurry to get a cold Coke, and you put it in the freezer, and you forget about it and the can splits open? That’s what’s happening with the tree.”
There are “numerous historic and current observations” of bushes exploding attributable to excessive chilly, in response to the National Forest Foundation.
Seiler stated these kinds of occasions aren’t essentially harmful for passersby or the tree itself.
“It’s going to be loud, but it’s not dangerous. Wood doesn’t go flying through the area,” he stated. “And for the tree, when it splits open like that, that’s not going to kill it. … But because the bark split open, it could be killed by insects getting inside, or infections from like a fungus or bacteria.”
Additionally, Aubrey stated, “if the bottom of a stem freezes, then the entire tree might die, but that also depends on the species since many trees can grow new stems from buds underground. If freezing occurs in a branch, then perhaps everything on that branch might die, but the tree will survive.”
During the storm, there’s increased threat of heavy branches falling from bushes because of the weight of ice or snow, Aubrey warned. A heavy tree department may hurt a house, a automobile or perhaps a particular person.
“Tree size factors into the types of impacts that you can have,” Aubrey stated.
“Longleaf pine trees, which have longer needles, have the potential to accumulate more ice on them than a loblolly pine tree or something that has shorter needles,” Aubrey stated. “In terms of branches breaking, large trees that are more open-grown tend to have more large branches and leaf area, compared to a dense forest where the trees are closer together.”
Seiler agreed that individuals ought to be extra frightened about heavy ice accumulation on bushes, which may trigger branches to fall or the tops of bushes to snap.
“If there’s a heavy ice accumulation and wet snow accumulation, you don’t want to have a branch fall on your head,” Seiler stated. “That’s extremely, extremely dangerous.”