Will Trees Really Explode During this Week’s Historic Polar Vortex Storm?
“What?” “You serious?” “What the heck are you talking about?” These are the remarks people are making after meteorologist @MaxVelocityWX shared a tweet about an almost unbelievable phenomenon. Imagine walking in your nearby park or in the forest woods and suddenly hearing a crackling sound echoing from the trees. Beginning with a subtle pop, the sound intensifies to a violent gunshot, and before you can make sense of it, a tree behind you explodes with a boom, its branches flinging in all directions. With fiery plumes of smoke billowing from its shattered trunk, the tree collapses on the ground in a heap of embers, punctuating the winter stillness with interjections of mystery.
When it gets too cold, trees explode. When pressure builds up beyond control, trees explode. And while the visuals may sound too dramatic, it’s just a game of physics. It’s the same mysterious process that happens to a can of soda if you keep it in your freezer for too long.
In the tweet, which has been viewed by 10 million people, the meteorologist mentioned that trees are currently vulnerable to explosion in the Midwest and Northern Plains. They can explode on Friday and Saturday, as the temperatures might plunge to negative 20 degrees or below. Others mentioned that it can also happen near Oklahoma, in Canada, or further south as well.
As Associated Press (AP) noted, this is the time when the majority of the US is engulfed within the clutches of a bad polar vortex, which is setting the stage for feisty winter storms that will rattle at least 48 states. Sub-zero and bone-chilling temperatures will sting the nation with bulky blankets of snow, which may not lift till early February.
It’s not just a chunk of America. The whole hemisphere, NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue said, has gone into a deep freeze or a “tree-mendous freeze,” as the New York Post jokingly described. The trees, meanwhile, appear to be increasingly vulnerable to this surreal phenomenon. Physics professor Christopher Baird likened the remarkable phenomenon to a “pipe bursting when water freezes.”
The National Forest Foundation also has an explanation. In liquid form, the molecules have more freedom to move around. But when they solidify, the molecules clump together to form a lattice structure. Unlike the liquid, the lattice structure arranges the molecules at farther distances. As they pull apart from each other, they exert enormous force on the walls of the container, pushing it outwards. Over time, the container expands, cracks, and eventually explodes.
When experiencing spells of extreme cold, trees go through a similar process. The life-sustaining sap called xylem in their bark carries water. Extreme cold freezes this sap to the point that it begins to contract. The internal pressure buildup starts pushing it outwards. When the bark cannot contract anymore, it breaks and explodes.
It’s like walking in a minefield where trees are like towering bottles of frozen soda. Palms are suicidal. Underneath their sturdy façade, the oak trees are harboring self-sabotaging behaviors. The watery hearts of fruit trees are rumbling with bubbling pressure. Maples are screaming. Some are already puffing out spirals of vapor resembling cigar smoke. One has already fulminated and burst like an old bottle of Coke. Spurring visuals like these, the meteorologist’s tweet has unlocked a new terror in people, the terror of being washed out by an exploding tree. As someone jokingly wrote, “Nothing ruins a peaceful walk in the woods like trees trying to take you out.” On a scientific note, the phenomenon, though not entirely inaccurate, is extremely rare, as CBS News also notes.
More on Green Matters
Why Are People Wrapping Sheet Metal Around the Trunks of Their Trees?
Plants and Trees Give Us an Early Warning if a Volcano Is About to Erupt — Research Says
Researchers Dump 1,500 Christmas Trees Into Frozen Lake — No One Was Ready for the Resul