Ok, I live in Alberta, Canada. I grew up in the woods of Northern Alberta. We can get week long bouts of -40°C/F and I have NEVER seen or heard of exploding trees in the area. Are American trees just weak, or is this fake?
Exploding 🌳🌲🌴🌳🌲🌴🌳🌲🌴🌳
Submitted 1 month ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
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Comments
Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
protist@mander.xyz 1 month ago
I’m going to guess it has to do with how quickly the temperature change occurs, or other environmental factors. It seems to be a somewhat rare occurrence, even in places where it gets very cold
SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 1 month ago
In Alberta a chinook can make the temp go from -20 to 20 in a matter of hours, the same backwards.
prettybunnys@piefed.social 1 month ago
Trees further south have different conditions.
When we get cold snaps before 15f in the mid Atlantic tree sap that doesn’t usually freeze will freeze and limbs will pop. I’ve never seen a tree explode but I’ve definitely heard trees blowing limb and bits of themselves in the woods. Wind exacerbates the phenomenon
chuckleslord@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It was raining here two weeks ago. Temperatures were in the 20-30s earlier this week. It’s being far below freezing AND recent warm weather that’s the danger.
Slatlun@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
It isn’t common, and explode is an exaggeration for what I have seen - just cracked bark (though the crack was probably abrupt and loud). Montana gets some every now and again, so I am guessing at least some parts of Alberta do too. Nobody has made a big deal about it in the past outside of folks interested in trees. This is some weird media hype.
Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
The use of the word “explode” is misleading. It’s definitely misinformation.
Here’s an arborist talking about it, but basically:
Trees move sap and other liquids up and down their trunk from the soil underneath regularly. For trees like maples, this is where maple syrups comes from, except you have to collect a lot of sap and reduce it down to syrup.
The arborist claims that these liquids present in the tree when the temperature swings faster than the tree can respond expand due to freezing, which buckles tree trunks causing the outer bark to crack open and separate. The cracks can be from the ground up, or they can look like gashed in the side of the tree. There’s moisture in the soil too, which can shift tree roots and cause similar cracking.
People say “explode” because there’s usually a popping sound when this happens.
In other contexts, people call this frost upheave. Engineers know about this phenomenon, and try to bury equipment like pipes and cable and conduit below the frost line so frost upheave doesn’t crack and break that stuff. With trees, this frost upheave just takes place inside trees themselves.
bryndos@fedia.io 5 weeks ago
I'd guess it's the species that grow there. If they regularly see -40C they'd have to have evolved to cope with it.
t could also be part of how they grow - i dunno maybe narrower / more flexible rings, better insulation, or better ways to store sap in winter conditions.
I assume this is in an area where such a temperature is very rare.
Most trees do have some radial cracks in them though - probably just some very rare cases those cracks get big enough for the tree to fall or split visibly on the outside and someone calls it an "explosion" for dramatic effect.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The trees don’t “explode” but young spindly trees can shatter if the conditions are just right, (and they are not right now). It’s very rare to have happen.
Source: I live in northern Minnesota. And I live closer to Winnipeg than the Twin cities.
hector@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
I have been in extreme cold and not heard of this either. When it gets below 0 f, they make noises, like cracking, but just noise.
9point6@lemmy.world 1 month ago
America. I shouldn’t need to tell you that trees exploding is a sign we’re not on the right path
MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 month ago
If it takes trees exploding and not … everything else that tips you off, you’re either a fool or not paying attention, or both.
iatenine@piefed.social 1 month ago
Sometimes I think how Minnesota is ranked the least stressed state
Other times I just think how
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Maybe for the same reason that the Nordic countries are ranked as the happiest
BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
Beer and cheese
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
That’s Wisconsin… FTP! (If you know you know)
lessthanluigi@lemmy.sdf.org 1 month ago
Minnesota was super chill when I was there a couple years ago.
iatenine@piefed.social 1 month ago
In Minnesota, they call the state “Minipop”
Source: I make shit up
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Looks like it’s going to be super chill this weekend, too. Extra super chill, even.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
There is a tremendous amount of inner peace knowing that your environment can reach out and kill you if it chooses to and you are unlucky.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 1 month ago
Idk why the left side of ND is excluded, it’s -36 in Williston today.
Manjushri@piefed.social 1 month ago
The trees have probably already exploded. It’s how they knew to warn those east of them.
Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 1 month ago
The danger of most things that explode, goes away once they explode.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 1 month ago
It’s probably more about large variances in temperature over a shorter period. If it’s already -36 today and been similarly cold recently then the trees are already frozen. There isn’t a risk from internal liquid water freezing and expanding.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Because you guys don’t have trees…
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 5 weeks ago
I don’t live there, but they do have trees.
Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
The trees don’t actually explode. They crack open.
Words are meaningful
Jentu@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
People look at me funny when I tell them I used to have exploding head syndrome.
SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Is that the thing jfk had?
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
I bet your mind was blown when you found out
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 5 weeks ago
-20F is -28C. I remember it hit -28C one time when I was a kid. I was walking around a forest and no trees exploded.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It’s not a common thing. And they don’t “explode” as much as shatter. It does require enough sap to be up in the tree trunks too. And our trees are too smart to let that happen for the most part. But it can and does happen sometimes to thin spindly young trees.
It’s been pretty cold up here in far northern Minnesota since last Wednesday. With morning temps at -25F, -30F, -30F and -35F this morning. The high yesterday was -15F and a high of -5F today. It’s not the very low temps that bother anyone up here, it’s the windchill that will kill you. Yesterday, the wind chills were running -35F to -60F. Which can cause frostbite to exposed skin in 5 minutes or less and possibly kill you very quickly.
On the upside, at these temps large amounts of snowfall are almost impossible. So I won’t need to start a tractor and plow the mile and a half to the nearest plowed road.
balsoft@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
It’s not just about the temperature, it’s also about how quickly the temperature is dropping. Usually when the temperature goes down, trees do some “clever” shit with the sap inside them, specifically so that there’s less moisture in them and when it freezes and expands the tree doesn’t crack. However if it drops too quickly the trees can’t do their magic quickly enough, too much water freezes, puts too much stress on the tree and it may crack.
logi@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
-20°F is -29°C
(A handy thing to remember is that -40°F is -40°C)
FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
That’s a hell of a blast radius.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
F or C?
Flauschige_Lemmata@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
20° is close to the temperature where it doesn’t matter
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Basically “it’s fucking cold” xD
modus@lemmy.world 1 month ago
When I was a kid I read Brian’s Winter, part of the Hatchet series. He was scared by explosions while alone in the winter woods and found out in the end that they were exploding trees. Never forgot about that concept, but I never bothered to look up how big a tree can be and explode.
PineRune@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
This is exactly what came to mind for me as well! My second grade teacher read this and Hatchet to us. I remember him trying to figure out if it was from stray bullets from a hunter’s gun or what was going on.
bcgm3@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Triggered the same memory for me, though I couldn’t remember the title. Just reserved a copy of the audiobook on Libby. Thanks!
Zephorah@discuss.online 1 month ago
Cue a bunch of AI vids.
RustyNova@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Wood
Boom
We’d like to take moment to announce
Boom
ALL OUR TREE KEEP BLO-Boom
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
You ever see The Boys? Season 2, Episode 7, "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker?
Like that. But trees.
daannii@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I always worry about the animals when we get these crazy cold times. How many die. It’s sad to think about.
fatalicus@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
For native animals? Probably not that many, as they are adapted to the fact that it gets very cold.
Stray cats and dogs? Probably quite a few.
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Extreme outliers still kill many animals. I mean, forest fires are natural and still plenty of animals die.
Also, the trees are adapted to the cold. And they’re exploding lol
Lumisal@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I don’t know if the polar vortex would go that far south so commonly in the past though. Climate change has made it wobble like crazy I’m recent years. It’s why we end up with warmer days in Finland now with no snow when it moves that way.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
At these temperatures, it’s best to keep your ass and your pet’s asses inside and pray the furnace don’t quit.
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 1 month ago
ICE agents getting an interesting mix of Vietnam and Iraq.
21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
And well, ice.
MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Ignorant non-American here. Why are the trees east and west safe?
I’m guessing trees north are used to the cold, so won’t explode, and south isn’t getting cold enough to explode. But what about east and west? (I already know the bare minimum of the US, but that central north region I know even less)
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The United States is very big. If you’re from a smaller country (particularly if it’s smaller east-to-west), it can be a little bit hard to comprehend how different the weather can be from one part of the country to another. While the weather does typically travel from West to East, it can change significantly along the way, and it usually takes several days to get from one coast to the other.
The highlighted area on the map is a massive region, wider than France and Germany put together (though much less populated). In fact, it’s quite rare for even this much of the country to have the same weather pattern. The simplest answer to why trees to the east and west are safe is that it’s not as cold there.
There are some other factors, too: just past the Western edge of the highlighted region are the Rocky Mountains, which significantly change weather patterns. The highlighted region consists of remarkably flat land (leveled by glacial action), meaning that there’s not much to break the wind as it sucks away the heat from the trees. To the East if this highlighted region are the Great Lakes, which also change weather patterns.
But the biggest answer is, it’s just not as cold there. Cleveland, OH (at a similar latitude, but further to the East) is going to be almost 20°F warmer than this (which is still bone-chilling, but not tree-exploding), and Boise, ID (similar latitude but to the West) is going to be almost 40°F warmer (practically tropical! /s).
wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Lake effect probably prevents huge temperature swings further east, and there are mountains to the west, I believe. The problem is the flat area pictured.
hector@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Michigan can stay 30 degrees warmer in these polar snaps, just from the lakes warming the air, also creating lake effect snow. Not so much the upper penninsula but the lower.
Just the other day, 36 below in wi, only 6 below in mi.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It’s also worth noting, if you’re not familiar with the US map, that the city of Minneapolis (where the anti-ICE protests are happening right now) is right about where the bottom of the “R” in “TREE” is on this map.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
forecasted
\sigh
5715@feddit.org 1 month ago
Doed you not like this?
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Someone read “Wind Through the Keyhole” and thinks a Starkblast is real.
HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Exploding ice risk
AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Love myself some Max
scala@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
He’s probably the best weather person out there. I love his hurricane live streams.
MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Don’t worry. They don’t actually explode.
TomMasz@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Definitely did not have this one on the ol’ bingo card.
janus2@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_tree
I… did not know about this previously
kamenlady@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Didn’t expect such damage
Image
I naively thought it was some exploding in beauty kind of thing
CodingCarpenter@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Looks like that scene from Jurassic Park. Now that is one big pile of tree
Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Jurassic Bark (NOT Futurama)