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Minamato t1_j75icyj wrote

Reply to comment by mellercopter in Frost Quakes by Commercial_Case_7475

Holy crap, that happens?

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ZippittyDooBlah t1_j76ca1p wrote

No, it doesn’t happen. Trees don’t “explode.” In extreme cold, you might hear loud gunshot-like sounds in the woods.

Trees contain water and that water can freeze and cause them to crack with a loud pop.

Trees don’t explode.

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mellercopter t1_j75ijwe wrote

Apparently, a meteorologist mentioned it was happening, but no video of it. I googled it and it's a thing. I guess it happens to untapped trees because of the larger amount of sap.

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amoebashephard t1_j76up37 wrote

Yeah, that's a regular April fool's joke around here lol, it is not really true

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mellercopter t1_j7763ee wrote

I thought so too, I've seen the video on Reddit from a few years back, but I guess it happened in Texas during their ice storm this year too. I'm taking it with a grain of salt, but everything I'm reading says it does happen when there are rapid drops to extreme cold temps since the freezing point of sap is really low. It looks like it could just result in large cracks in the trees vs like a Michael Bay explosion but it's supposedly sounds like gunshots and the Sioux and Cree have names for it.

I'm theost skeptical of skeptics normally but this one I'm not ruling out.

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Minamato t1_j75ld40 wrote

None of my maples get tapped! I should go check if they exploded (tomorrow)!

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Outrageous-Outside61 t1_j78xo73 wrote

I mean I’ve made the reference of trees exploding, but it really is just sap expanding and causing large cracks. Sometimes you’ll get a section that will split right off. It doesn’t matter if the trees tapped or not though

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