Arctic blast will bring ‘life-threatening’ temperatures and dump snow on 150 million Americans. But will it make the trees explode?
Extreme cold from an impending winter storm could cause some trees to “explode,” claims a viral social media post – but don’t expect trees to start exploding like cars in an action movie.
“Exploding TREES are possible across the Midwest and Northern Plains Friday and Saturday as temperatures are expected to drop 20 degrees below zero! » Max Velocity (real name Max Schuster), a weather content creator with a degree in meteorology, wrote in a publish on social platform.
But can extreme cold really cause trees to explode?
It depends on your definition of “exploding.” Trees can crack in freezing conditions from their sap. This substance is usually liquid even at freezing temperatures, but when it gets very cold, like minus 20 F (minus 29 C), it freezes. In some places, the incoming Arctic blast will likely be cold enough to freeze tree sap, causing it to expand rapidly, Bill McNeeforest health specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“It just creates a lot of physical pressure that can cause frost cracks to suddenly appear, branches can fall and people hear this really loud crack coming from their tree, almost like it’s a gunshot,” McNee said.
Cracks usually only affect part of the tree, but in rare cases explosions can occur, McNee said.
“I’ve never seen the damage this tree does, but from what I’ve seen and what I’ve read online, it’s rare that so much pressure is suddenly released inside this tree that it almost explodes,” McNee said.
Meteorologist Cody Matz also addressed the issue of the explosion in an article for the Minneapolis-based newspaper. Fox 9writing that “it can and does happen” but that it is “extremely rare.” Matz noted that many people have probably lived their entire lives in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest without ever hearing about exploding trees.
The non-profit news organization South Dakota News Watchin partnership with the nonprofit Gigafact, concluded that the claim that trees can explode in extreme cold was misleading, but noted that rupture and breakage due to temperature “can resemble an explosion.”
Winter blast
Even though trees can “explode”, some areas will be lucky enough to experience the rare phenomenon of cracking. The NWS is temperature forecast below minus 20 F in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin over the weekend, while wind chills starting today (Jan. 22) will be even colder.
“This Arctic blast will be accompanied by gusty winds, leading to dangerous wind chills,” wrote an NWS representative at a weather forecast center. update THURSDAY. “The coldest wind chills can fall below -50 [F] across the Northern Plains with subzero wind chills reaching southeast to the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Mississippi Valley, and Southern Plains. These wind chills will present a life-threatening risk of hypothermia and frostbite to exposed skin.
Arctic air is also expected to fuel a massive, long-lasting winter storm, in conjunction with a surface front farther south and a mid-level disturbance crossing northern Mexico, according to the Weather Prediction Center update. AccuWeather reported that the winter storm is expected to bring significant snow and ice to more than 150 million people in 24 states Friday through the weekend.
Meteorologists said The associated press than a stretch polar vortex is responsible for the Arctic explosion. The polar vortex is an area of low pressure and cold air that constantly circulates around the North and South poles. Around the North Pole, the Arctic polar vortex is a circle of strong, cold winds that rise each winter and send cold air south with the jet stream when disrupted or stretched.
A warming of the Arctic, fueled by climate changeenergizes the polar vortex and helps send cold air south, according to the Associated Press. Extreme winter weather is often linked to the activities of the polar vortex, although researchers are still deciphering all the factors behind the vortex’s behavior.
