The extreme cold from the incoming winter blast could cause some trees to “explode,” a viral social media post claims, but don’t expect them to start blowing away like cars in an action movie.
“Trees are likely to explode across the Midwest and northern Plains on Friday and Saturday as temperatures are expected to drop to 20 degrees below zero,” Max Velocity (real name Max Schuster), a weather-based content creator with a degree in meteorology, wrote in a post on social platform X.
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But can trees really explode in extreme cold?
It depends on your definition of “explosion.” The sap can cause the tree to crack in extremely cold environments. This material is normally liquid even at subzero temperatures, but it freezes at extremely low temperatures, such as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 29 degrees Celsius). Bill McNee, a forest health specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the arctic blast would likely be cold enough to freeze tree sap in some places and could spread quickly.
“It just creates a lot of physical pressure, and that can suddenly cause frost cracking and branches can fall off, and people hear this really loud crack coming out of the tree, almost like a gunshot,” McNee said.
McNee said cracks usually affect only one part of the tree, but in rare cases an explosion can occur.
“I haven’t seen the damage, but from what I’ve seen and what I’ve read online, it’s rare for a tree to suddenly release so much pressure that it almost explodes inside this tree,” McNee said.
Meteorologist Cody Matz also addressed the explosion claim in an article for Minneapolis-based FOX 9, writing that while “it can and does happen,” it is “extremely rare.” Matz noted that many people have likely lived their entire lives in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest without ever hearing about trees exploding.
South Dakota News Watch, a news nonprofit in collaboration with the fact-checking nonprofit Gigafact, concluded that claims that trees can explode during extremely cold weather are misleading, but noted that the sound of snapping and snapping depending on temperature “could sound like an explosion.”
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winter explosion
Regardless of whether the tree “explodes” or not, a rare cracking phenomenon may occur in some areas. The NWS predicts temperatures will drop below -20 degrees in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin over the weekend, but wind chills starting today (January 22) will make it even colder.
“This arctic blast will bring gusty winds and dangerous cold air,” NWS representatives said in Thursday’s Weather Prediction Center update. “The coldest wind chill could drop below -50 degrees [F] Below-freezing wind chills will move across the Northern Plains and into the Southeast into the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Mississippi Valley and Southern Plains. These wind chills pose life-threatening risks of hypothermia and frostbite on exposed skin. ”
The Arctic atmosphere, combined with a surface front farther south and a mid-level disturbance moving through northern Mexico, could produce a large and prolonged winter storm, according to the latest information from the Weather Prediction Center. AccuWeather reported that the winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow and ice to more than 150 million people in 24 states from Friday through the weekend.
Meteorologists told The Associated Press that the cause of the North Pole explosion was a growing polar vortex. A polar vortex is an area of low pressure and cold air that constantly circulates around the North and South poles. The polar vortex around the North Pole is a ring of strong, cold winds that intensifies each winter, sending cold air south when the jet stream becomes turbulent or stretched.
According to the Associated Press, climate change is warming the Arctic and activating the polar vortex, which helps send cold air south. Extreme winter weather is often associated with the movement of the polar vortex, but researchers are still deciphering all the factors behind the vortex’s behavior.
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