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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?
I’m going to guess it has to do with how quickly the temperature change occurs, or other environmental factors prior to the freeze. It seems to be a somewhat rare occurrence, even in places where it gets very cold
In Alberta a chinook can make the temp go from -20 to 20 in a matter of hours, the same backwards.
The ones that would explode did a loooong time 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.
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.
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.
America. I shouldn’t need to tell you that trees exploding is a sign we’re not on the right path
-20°F is -29°C
(A handy thing to remember is that -40°F is -40°C)
Cue a bunch of AI vids.
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.
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.
Triggered the same memory for me, though I couldn’t remember the title. Just reserved a copy of the audiobook on Libby. Thanks!
ICE agents getting an interesting mix of Vietnam and Iraq.
Wood
Boom
We’d like to take moment to announce
Boom
ALL OUR TREES KEEP BLO-Boom
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)
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).
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.
Someone read “Wind Through the Keyhole” and thinks a Starkblast is real.
Don’t worry. They don’t actually explode.
forecasted
\sigh
I always worry about the animals when we get these crazy cold times. How many die. It’s sad to think about.
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.
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.
At these temperatures, it’s best to keep your ass and your pet’s asses inside and pray the furnace don’t quit.
Definitely did not have this one on the ol’ bingo card.
