The Videos Of Trees EXPLODING From The Extreme Cold Are Wild
It's colder than your ex-girlfriend's heart out there in much of the United States right now.
And I'm sure our friends in the north are probably going to roll their eyes and call me a moron per usual, but this is some of the most incredible stuff my eyes have ever seen.
The other day when I blogged about this "once in a lifetime" cold and snow storm coming through the country (even though we just had a polar vortex a few years ago),
one of the strange parts included in the lead up was a "risk of exploding trees"
To be honest, I didn't give it much thought. It sounds like one of those things meteorologists throw out there to cover their asses just in case some freak incident happens they can say "we told you so."
But lo-and-behold, trees are literally fucking exploding out there.
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As for the science behind this phenomenon?
Here is the cool answer.
And here is the nerd answer.
Popular Science - Trees explode—or, more accurately crack—similarly to how you lost a favorite water bottle after leaving it in the freezer for too long. Once temperatures dip below 32 degrees, the sap inside certain trees begins to solidify and expand. If it is particularly frigid, around -20 degrees or lower,the outside bark shrinks faster than the bark on the inside. Eventually, the stress wins out and causes the exterior to snap, producing a loud “bang” in the process.
“This is most likely to happen on clear, calm nights, especially late night into early morning when temperatures fall quickly,” meteorologist Shawn Cable explained. “It can happen to a lot of different trees, but some common ones around here include maples, ash, apple or crabapple, poplar or cottonwood, and willow, along with younger trees that haven’t yet developed thicker bark.”
The damage is occasionally harmful to the tree itself, but even then, it’s often able to continue growing once the spring thaw arrives. In any case, exploding trees aren’t something to avoid—but the polar vortex that can cause it certainly is.
Either way, nature remains the coolest thing going.
Head on a swivel out there.