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We’re not even one month into 2026, and with everything that’s happening, now we have to deal with exploding trees? Really?
No, not entirely.
Much of Canada and the northern United States are enduring a deep freeze, with temperatures plummeting below –20 C — lower than –40 C with the wind chill in some places — across much of Canada and the U.S. in the coming days.
As people in these areas brace for the frigid temperatures, caused by a polar vortex disruption pushing Arctic air all the way to the U.S. Deep South, a viral social media post claimed it would be cold enough in as many as seven states, from North and South Dakota to Michigan, to cause trees to explode.
The extreme cold will indeed be serious enough to put people at risk, and it will contribute to a vast and potentially dangerous storm that will stretch across nearly 30 states between Friday and Monday — though not necessarily from trees spontaneously blowing apart.
“You may have seen a post circulating about the possibility of trees in Minnesota exploding due to plummeting temperatures,” Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources wrote in a Facebook post. “Luckily, there’s no need to stay out of the woods to avoid this risk.”
But that doesn’t mean the claim is entirely false. Here’s a brief explanation about whether there is a risk of “exploding trees” in this bitter weather — and other ways extreme temperature changes can make things go boom.
How is this even possible?
When temperatures drop significantly and suddenly enough, it can cause what are known as frost cracks, said Simon Peacock, an ISA-certified arborist with Green Drop Tree Care in Winnipeg.
“It’s a strange phenomenon, more common in thin-barked trees,” he said, explaining that it happens quite often in the Prairies.
These vertical splits can sometimes span the length of the trunk, and it can be quite loud when this happens — sounding like, some might say, an explosion.
The sudden chill causes water and sap inside the tree to freeze rapidly, said Bill McNee, a forest health specialist with Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources.
“When it does that, like ice cubes in your freezer, it expands very quickly,” McNee told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The “physical pressure” from that, he said, can cause a tree to split and branches to fall off.
Peacock said the break doesn’t harm the tree and will heal when the temperature warms up in the summer — although they can reopen again in the winter.
That repeated cracking and healing can create a permanent “frost rib” or scar in the trunk.
If a crack is deep enough, Peacock said, there is a risk bacteria that can cause wood decay may get into a tree, and a certified arborist should be consulted to mitigate it.
Hardwood trees are more prone to frost cracks because they lose their leaves in winter, or because they’re overly pruned, while evergreen trees keep their foliage all through the year.
Species that are more often affected can include elm, poplar, certain types of maple, oak, ash and aspen trees, as well as fruit-bearing trees like apple, peach and cherry.
Peacock said it’s often non-native species of trees, like silver maples or some linden trees, that are most at risk of cracking when extreme cold hits quickly, while native trees have adapted to endure freezing temperatures.
He said it’s “extremely rare” to see a tree suffer “excessive” damage, like what’s been depicted in some social media posts, and that most people won’t even notice until sometime after a crack has already sealed up again — or unless they hear that unexpected boom in their backyard.
What else can ‘explode’ in the brutal cold?
It’s not just trees that can cause dramatic booms when the temperature plunges dramatically.
Have you heard of “thundersnow” or “frost quakes”? Both of these jarring phenomena can also occur in winter.
Frost quakes, also known as cryoseism, occur when there is a lot of water in the ground, either from rainfall or melting snow, and it rapidly freezes.
The underground ice expands and puts pressure on the soil and bedrock, eventually causing cracks.
Along with being loud, frost quakes can create quite a jolt that can shake buildings just like an earthquake, which happened in Ottawa in 2022 after a rapid swing in temperatures.
Thundersnow, which occurred during a March 2023 storm over southern Ontario, is a rare effect that can happen when moist air in a winter storm — accompanied by higher snowfall — is warmer on the surface but meets the cooler air higher up in the atmosphere.
That creates instability, similar to how a thunder and lightning storm form in the summer.
But in a winter storm, the falling snow can actually amplify the sound of the thunder spectacularly.
WATCH | CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe explains a freaky winter phenomenon (2017):
