Social media posts warned of “exploding trees” ahead of subzero temperatures. When water inside trees freezes, it expands and can cause frost cracks that can sound like a gunshot when they form. But the trees don’t actually explode.
A frost crack is pictured on an oak tree on the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus, Jan. 26, 2026. Social media posts warning of" exploding trees " in subzero temperatures are mischaracterizing a phenomenon known as frost cracks .
Frost cracks form when water inside trees freezes and expands. As a tree splits, the crack can sound like a gunshot, but the tree isn’t actually exploding.Viral social media posts warned that trees in the upper Midwest might explode as a winter storm ushered in subzero temperatures across the U.S. "EXPLODING TREES are possible in the Midwest and Northern Plains on Friday and Saturday, as temperatures are forecasted to fall 20 degrees BELOW zero," read a Jan. 20The post referred to a real cold-temperature phenomenon, but tree experts clarified that people experiencing bitterly cold temperatures don’t also need to worry that trees will detonate around them, with bark and branches suddenly raining down."When water freezes it expands," said John Seiler, a Virginia Tech professor and tree physiology specialist."Sometimes the ice expansion causes the tree trunk to split open."As an everyday example, think of what happens when someone leaves a can of soda in the freezer.A tree’s frost cracks might be loud when they happen, but they aren’t dangerous to nearby people, critters or property. "When trees split like this it doesn’t explode and send wooden shrapnel through the air," Seiler said."They just pop open and it may almost sound like a gun." That sound might be where the misnomer comes from, said Lee Frelich, the director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology. "If you hear a tree when it cracks, it sounds like a gunshot, and some people might interpret the sound as a small explosion," he said. Trees don’t actually explode, but freezing conditions can cause frost cracks. When temperatures drop suddenly, water inside the tree expands and contracts faster than the bark can handle, causing the outer layer to split.Weather forecasters have occasionally used the term, Frelich said. Seiler said he’d first heard it last week, when a student used it to describe what happens to trees in extreme cold. Any species of tree can have frost cracks, Frelich said, but they’re common in oak, maple and linden trees that grow in cold climates such as Minnesota. In many trees, the sap can reach very low temperatures without freezing solid, he said. That means frost cracks often don’t appear in healthy, mature trees with thick insulating bark unless temperatures reach -20 to -40 degrees or colder. The cracks aren’t necessarily fatal. Many trees can heal frost cracks after a few years or live for decades with a large frost crack, Frelich said.Social media posts warned of"exploding trees" when temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero. In extreme cold, frost cracks can form when the water inside trees freezes and expands. As a tree splits, the crack can sound like a gunshot, which some people might confuse with a small explosion. But the tree isn’t actually detonating or sending wood shrapnel everywhere. Forest ecologists and tree experts don’t refer to this phenomenon as"exploding trees."“No están recibiendo el entrenamiento tradicional de cinco meses… .El entrenamiento para los agentes de ICE ahora es de 47 días”. There was not “a single, prominent conservative voice in the country that even remotely wanted or hoped or was pushing to get Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air.”“No están recibiendo el entrenamiento tradicional de cinco meses… .El entrenamiento para los agentes de ICE ahora es de 47 días”. A letter sent to postal service employees about working during emergencies such as civil unrest is a sign that President Donald Trump will impose martial law. “By federal law, if you sign someone up for Medicaid, you also give them the right to vote. … This is political patronage at the expense of Medicaid.”
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