Tree and Ice Storm experts weigh in

Rob Keeble

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12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
For months now i have been trying to find information and figure many of you guys have probably lived through numerous ice storms in your life.

So here is what i want to know.

We had a really bad ice storm in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, trees came down like matches snapped between two fingers. That i could understand and we saw the damage.

In some cases like the younger birch trees they got bent over real bad but did not break yet when the ice melted they also did not return to normal.

So time moves on and we get to the stage where the temp warms up but i am talking about it dances with breaking zero. And i start to notice one heck of a lot more trees damaged that previously. As it has warmed even more i see even more of this damage to branches.

So my question is did the ice storm break some of these branches but they were frozen stuck in place and then when the branch began to thaw it snapped at the "unseen break" under its own weight?

Or was the wood and cells etc within the branch affected in some other way such that when the branch as a whole thawed it just did not have the mechanical strength to hold itself.

I have definitely observed additional damage that was not present at the time of the ice storm and want to figure out how it all works.

The trees had to live through below zero most of winter this year which has not been the case in prior winters.

Anyone know about what happens through the ice storm cycle and then the post warm up period ?

Our tree canopy really took a serious hit this year and i can see many trees not only battling to recover but being open to all sorts of infestations given the open wood from breaks.

Some of the breaks have occurred at the trunk where the branch joins the tree, but many are branches that are say diameter of average persons biceps and snapped off in the middle somewhere.

Be interested to know more if you can share. Thanks
 
One thing I know is that even when we haven't had significant ice storms, and we haven't this year, even though we're only 50km south of you, is that at the end of winter there are always twigs and branches left on the ground when the snow melts. It is possible that the ice shook a little more loose than usual. It it also possible that some of the wood hung up in the trees, and waited for the ice melt and some wind to fall out.
 
Lots of scientific study on this subject, but most on how to develop storm resistant species. I recall splinting my eastern red cedar and river birch after a bad ice storm in the early nineties. They were bent to the ground with an inch of ice on them, but recovered nicely with a little splinting help, only to be taken out by a hurricane a few years later:)
http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/pdf_pubs/ICESTORM.PDF
 
I don't have an answer for you Rob but we have been hit with several ice storms. The one in the pics below put us without power for almost a week. Views of my back yard and my street from the end of my driveway.

Nature heals itself though without any help from us. Come spring the trees were back to normal.

100_3622.jpg100_3621.jpg100_3620.jpg100_3609.jpg
 
... I have definitely observed additional damage that was not present at the time of the ice storm and want to figure out how it all works. ...

Our tree canopy really took a serious hit this year and i can see many trees not only battling to recover but being open to all sorts of infestations given the open wood from breaks.

Simple answer = Gods Plan to make all trees and their offspring stronger.

Scientific Answer, I'm interesting in knowing this too :)

See link for others who have wondered about this:

http://saltwatercureseverything.com/blogpages/good-timber-does-not-grow-with-ease-the-stron
 
One of the problems we've experienced the past couple of years in our neck of the woods is that we were hit with ice storms early on, before much of the leaves were gone from the trees. So, the ice & snow added a lot more weight to the branches & causing them to break.
 
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