Homeowners in Wisconsin aren’t new to the harsh winter storms and the havoc they can cause. However, your driveway, home, and the road isn’t the only thing affected by the storms. The snow, ice, and wind can leave a devastating effect on your trees and induce severe damage. You may have to hire a tree service professional by searching for “tree service near me”. However, before that let’s check out the potential effects of Wisconsin winter storms on trees and what you can do to avoid the damage:
The Effects
- Strong blizzards can knock down trees – A blizzard is classified as a storm with wind speeds exceeding 35 miles per hour. In such a storm, you’d be lucky to have visibility within half a mile and these storms can last for several hours.
With such high wind speeds, it isn’t shocking that a lot of trees are uprooted and get knocked down. Very strong blizzards can also take down entire forests. The EPA says that entire forests brought down by blizzards start decaying and release high amounts of carbon into the air. The sudden spike in carbon levels causes an imbalance in the ecosystem and can also be dangerous for nearby animals.
That’s why you should inspect your property and your trees when you are notified of a blizzard by the weather forecast. It allows you to assess risks and hazards posed by the strong snowy winds and also implement safety measures to reduce potential damage. Even if the wind knocks down just a tree limb instead of the whole tree, it can damage your property and risk the safety of your family.
One way you can protect your trees is by cabling and bracing them. This reinforces their structure and may help them to withstand the harsh weather. Make sure that you remove those cables after the storm. Otherwise, they can rub against the bark of the tree and make the tree vulnerable to the cold, diseases, pests, and wild animals.
You can also protect small plants like shrubs by covering them tightly in burlap. The aim is to reduce their volume and make them more aerodynamic so that the winds don’t inflict any severe damage.
- Ice storms can break branches and limbs – Any part of the tree that has structural vulnerabilities will break during an ice storm. That includes dead or decaying branches, long and heavy branches that carry too much weight, and strain connection to the stem. You need to reinforce these vulnerable branches and limbs before the ice storm hits you.
Ice storms can have changing wind speeds and duration without any warning. Ignoring tree reinforcement can make you pay a heavy price if you think your tree can brave through a storm that lasts for a short duration.
Ice storms are especially dangerous due to their post-storm devastation. Your tree may look nice and sparkly after the storm is over and the sun comes out. However, the branches that were already stressed now have to support even more weight and will fall eventually. That can damage your property and also harm your family or any innocent stranger passing by.
The best way to avoid this is by hiring a certified arborist from a tree service company. They can assess the tree and point out the structurally weak limbs. They will also recommend the best ways of protecting your tree and the immediate surroundings. One way to protect your trees is pruning them before the winter season.
Pruning helps you get rid of dead, decaying, and low-lying branches that pose numerous safety risks. Bracing and cabling the tree and its branches is another method of reinforcing the branches from breaking off.
- Snow squalls can topple your tree – A time-lapse video of a snow squall can scare any person and it’s even worse when you experience it yourself. Snow squalls are like blizzards on steroids. While they last for a very short duration, the wind speeds along with the heavy snow can cause major destruction.
If you live near a great lake or a similarly large body of water, you’re more likely to experience snow squalls. These short bursts of wind and snow can topple the largest trees to the ground. Keep your trees protected by cabling and bracing them during the winter season. Trees that are large enough and aren’t reinforced properly may damage your home and even power lines, nearby cars, or people who are shoveling or snow plowing.
- Freezing rain adds weight to the branches – Freezing rain starts as a snowflake falling from the sky. As it passes through several layers of warm air, it gets turned into water and continues its journey to the earth as a raindrop. However, this raindrop turns into ice instantly as it hits anything that has freezing temperatures, less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
So, freezing rain is somewhat similar to ice storms since they leave a lasting effect on trees. As the raindrops hit the freezing outer layer of the bark and the tree branches, it freezes up instantly and adds weight to the limbs. The limbs and branches that are too long, decaying, or weak enough would eventually cave in due to the extra weight.
Even if the weight isn’t enough to break away the limb, it is enough to make wounds and cracks. The wound will be infested by pests or diseases and slowly decay the tree from the inside out. You can prevent that by pruning your trees before the winter season.
Conclusion
While winter storms can damage your trees, the degree of severity should also be taken into account. Trees in Wisconsin start going dormant and make cellular level changes to cope with the harsh wind, heavy snow, and freezing temperatures. So, your trees would be unharmed unless the storm is especially ferocious. If there is any damage, you can hire a pro to fix it by searching for “tree service near me”.
