No Minnesota - our trees are not "exploding" despite what you may have seen on social media.
WCCO-TV Chief Meteorologist Chris Shaffer took some time Thursday morning to explain what actually happens, as we get set for a major deep freeze across Minnesota Friday and into the weekend.
"Yeah, it's actually very common," says Shaffer. "Anybody listening right now that lives especially in like a wooded area, you hear this all the time. You can hear it with your deck once in a while, if you have an old wood deck versus the more composite ones. Essentially what it is, when you take trees, there's sap within them and oftentimes there's moisture within them. So when these temperatures drop to extreme cold temperatures like they're about to this weekend, what happens is that sap or moisture freezes. And when a liquid freezes, it expands."
Shaffer says this is the same reason a can of pop you leave in your car bursts.
"So it's pushing outward and that can make the bark or some of the branches basically pop as it's pushing outward," he says. "They don't explode. The problem is, it's a dumb name."
Will you hear some "popping" this weekend when you're out in the woods?
"Yes, there will be popping trees this weekend, but that's the science behind what's making that happen essentially," Shaffer explains.
There you go. Moisture expanding. Trees are not exploding.