No Tree Crisis

When winter precipitation includes heavy wet snow or freezing rain, trees must endure the weather conditions. Some are better adapted than others and coping strategies vary by tree service.

We don’t have a problem with winter. Aside from the snow and the cold and the freezing rain… okay, maybe we have a couple issues. But we have sweaters and hot cocoa and Netflix. Trees, however, do not. As the snow piles up, you may see trees bent over with their crowns nearly touching the ground, leafless and haggard. They can’t escape or hide from the cold, so how do trees survive?




So just how do our trees survive winter?

Mature trees are an asset to any home – they add beauty, increase curb appeal and provide shade on hot summer days. But when a winter storm hits, it can turn trees into torpedoes capable of smashing a roof or leveling a car. Just like any living thing, trees have adapted over time to deal with the range of environmental conditions thrown their way. In this case, freezing rain, ice-loading, or heavy wet snow. Trees that aren’t adapted to survive periodic ice loading don’t live here. We don’t find trees that can’t cope with heavy snow and ice storms.

Some trees (like pine or spruce) simply bend or fold branches to shrug off snow. Other trees (like oaks) try to stand rigid and inflexible. Stout oaks and sugar maples are famous for big heavy branches that don’t break. On the other hand, branches of beech and red maple tend to break apart under heavy snow loads.

Most of northern trees lose their leaves. That’s less surface area to carry extra weight of ice and snow. More stress on the limbs means more broken branches during ice storms. Some tree species tend to retain their leaves into early winter when they’re young. These trees are said to be marcescent.

We tend to see most damage to trees when we get those early snowstorms in the fall when the trees still have their leaves. A heavy wet October snowstorm hits trees harder than the dry snow in January.

An experienced arborist can remove overextended branches that threaten service lines on your property. If your trees affect power lines along the roads beyond your property, you’ll need to contact the utility and coordinate with them to remove the hazard.

Need motivation to take action? Keep in mind that winter storms are bad enough without having to try to get through them without electrical power.

Irene and Other Hurricanes

Hurricane Irene 2011

Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011.

Hurricane Naming: The credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems is generally given to the Queensland Australia Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge who named systems between 1887 and 1907.

Hurricane Irma 2017

Hurricane Irma was the strongest observed in the Atlantic in terms of maximum sustained winds since Wilma and the strongest storm on record to exist in the open Atlantic region. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two weeks later. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, second major hurricane, and first Category 5 hurricane of the 2017 season, Irma caused widespread and catastrophic damage throughout its long lifetime, particularly in the northeastern Caribbean and the Florida Keys.

Hurricane Emily 2005

Hurricane Emily was the earliest forming Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record in a season and the most intense to form before August. A powerful, early season and Cape Verde tropical cyclone that caused significant damage across the Caribbean Sea to Mexico, the storm formed on July 10, 2005, in the central Atlantic Ocean before passing through the Windward Islands on July 14. Tracking generally towards the west-northwest, the storm gradually intensified as it traversed the Caribbean, peaking as a Category 5 hurricane on July 16, marking the earliest date for a storm to do so during the course of a given year.

What is a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane? It is one that is considered by the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC), to have had sustained wind speeds greater than 136 knots (157 mph; 252 km/h; 70 m/s) on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The NHC considers sustained wind speeds to be those that occur over a one-minute period at 10 metres (32.8 ft) above ground. These wind speeds are estimated by using a blend of data from a variety of sources, which include observations from nearby ships, reconnaissance aircraft, or automatic weather stations and pictures from various satellites.

Hurricane Katrina 2005

Hurricane Katrina was an extremely destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane that made landfall on Florida and Louisiana in August 2005, causing catastrophic damage; particularly in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Subsequent flooding, caused largely as a result of fatal engineering flaws in the flood protection system known as levees[3] around the city of New Orleans, precipitated most of the loss of lives. The storm was the third major hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States, behind only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Hurricane Gloria 1985

Hurricane Gloria was the first significant tropical cyclone to strike the northeastern United States since Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and the first major storm to affect New York and Long Island directly since Hurricane Donna in 1960. It was a powerful Cape Verde hurricane that formed during the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season, originating from a tropical wave on September 16 in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. After remaining a weak tropical cyclone for several days, Gloria intensified into a hurricane on September 22 north of the Lesser Antilles. During that time, the storm had moved generally westward, although it turned to the northwest due to a weakening of the ridge. Gloria quickly intensified on September 24, and the next day reached peak winds of 145 mph (230 km/h). The hurricane weakened before striking the Outer Banks of North Carolina on September 27. Later that day, Gloria made two subsequent landfalls on Long Island and later western Connecticut, before becoming extratropical on September 28 over New England. The remnants moved through Atlantic Canada, eventually dissipating on October 2.




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