When temperatures plunge and the air goes painfully still, people in northern forests sometimes hear a sharp crack that sounds like a gunshot. That eerie noise has fueled a viral claim that trees ...

KATOOMBA, New South Wales — A powerful lightning strike hit Katoomba, New South Wales, on Monday, March 23, triggering a chain reaction that ignited a fire, caused trees to explode, and ruptured a gas ...

Lightning struck a massive redwood tree in a Santa Rosa neighborhood early Friday morning. Cleanup continues as the tree practically exploded scattering debris and causing damage. A church had to be ...

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 ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Snow covers the ground at Trinity Park off West 7th Street in Fort Worth on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. It's cold this weekend in North ...

These forecasts have prompted warnings about protecting your water pipes, dressing for the weather, and, for some reason, the possibility of “exploding” trees. Earlier this week, posts shared to ...

It's all over the internet this week - trees "exploding" in the cold. I'm getting messages, memes and TikToks sent to me about it. It's funny (in a way), but let's set aside expectation from reality ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A lightning strike caused an explosive scene in an Aurora neighborhood Sunday night, sending shards of wood flying and damaging ...

A viral claim suggested trees can explode in the Arctic cold. That's not entirely true, though they do crack under the pressure.

Trees don't explode in cold temperatures, but they can develop a frost crack, or vertical fissure in the tree trunk.