Let’s talk about exploding trees.
In case you’re lucky enough to live where it’s not ABSOLUTELY FREEZING COLD, then you know just how bleak things are out there!
Extreme cold warnings are in effect throughout the Midwest, with wind chills that could reach -40 degrees!!
That brings us to the exploding trees threat.
It all started with this graphic from weather account Max Velocity showing an area with an “exploding tree risk.”
Yes, “exploding tree risk.”
Reaction has been very “huh?!?!”
Everyone is wondering: “This is a thing that can happen???”
Well, here’s what people say about it.
It appears to be *kind of* real.
South Dakota News Now meteorologist Tyler Roney expained: “When sudden temperature falls like the one coming Friday occur, the sap in trees can expand or contract very quickly which could add extra pressure inside the tree leading to a sudden split or crack of wood which often comes with a loud boom.”
North Dakota State University refers to them as “frost cracks.” They can sound like a gunshot, but the trees do not actually explode.
So, there you have it. People are exaggerating, but the cracks are real.
The real thing we have to worry about are “frost quakes.”
Meteorologist Ross Ellet explains, “As the temperatures drop rapidly, and the cold air leads to ice developing and expanding underground, it can lead to loud booms. We have experienced them many times in similar extreme cold blasts in the past, and likely will again, especially this weekend and early next week.”