With the very cold weather throughout the nation, stories and videos are appearing on the internet of trees exploding.
USA Today ran a story on January 29th, 2026 that shows trees breaking apart.
Click Link to video attached in this article link
Although it sounds unbelievable, can trees really explode?
(this is damage from a lightening strike) Photo courtesy of Dr. Ann Chanon, OSU Extension.
Actually, if enough pressure is applied to a tree, for example, a heavy ice load which can bend a tree almost 45 degrees, physics would tell us the tree reaches a breaking point and the tree can shatter,
especially if the tree has sap that begins to flow, and then very cold night temperature can cause that sap to freeze and expand,
Zelkova
like placing a can of pop in a freezer.
In Tennessee, trees broke apart under the weight of ice as shown in this 2-minute news cast from a FOX affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tennessee Tech Professor Dr. Douglas Airhart explained that trees should not continue to break as they thaw.
This video from CBS News Detroit features a 2-minute video where Dr. Bert Cregg, a Professor at Michigan State University, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources explains this phenomenon.
More often than not, trees do not actually explode, they frost-crack. Typically, a tree after a very cold night, can vertically crack typically up the trunk.
Maple
Sometimes these vertical cracks can be from a lightening strike, but this typically happens during a thunderstorm
which is rare in the middle of winter.
But lightening strikes typically spiral down the tree.
Norway Spruce
Frost cracks tend to be straight up and down and happen in winter.
North Dakota State University Extension Forester Joseph Zeleznik explains the difference between a frost crack and lightning strike in this 2 ½ minute video.
Certain trees can be more susceptible to frost crack.
Maple
In Ohio, Maples, for example, will begin to have sap flow in late January through March, which is exactly when maple sugar producers are tapping trees. That sap can freeze within the tree and make it prone to frost-cracking.
Sugar Maple
Other trees that can experience frost cracking are typically trees with thin bark include Red Maples,
Japanese Maples,
Japanese Maple
Dogwoods, Sycamores,
Black Tupelo
Cherries,
and Lilacs. (Thanks to Miguel Preza for the Nursery pictures!)
Sometimes trees that frost crack one winter may continue to crack in future winters.
Maple
If the tree frost cracks, will it survive? It depends. Any time the center of a tree below the bark is exposed to the outside elements, it opens the tree to rot inducing fungus, insects, and bacteria.
But nature has a way of healing trees. It’s more of a wait and see. Some trees may be fine and just have a vertical scar which will eventually heal.
Maple
Others may succumb to insects or rot and decline and eventually die.
In a commercial nursery setting, trees that have experienced frost cracks are typically culled and discarded.
(Thanks to Miguel Preza for the Nursery pictures!)
So, do trees explode? Like dynamite. Typically, not. In a quiet woods, it can sound like a gunshot. But they will crack and shatter if enough pressure is applied, especially when trees experience a heavy ice load as occurred in the South recently as in Tennessee.
