Althouse: It's happening!

January 22, 2026

It's happening!

@PatMcAfeeShow it’s happening… pic.twitter.com/4GbBspkFlU
— Bob Rae (@TheBobRae) January 22, 2026

47 comments:

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Ah the first exploding trees of winter!; 1/22/26, 9:18 AM
Original Mike said...: Sure glad we got the dying ash tree next to the house out a couple of weeks ago.; 1/22/26, 9:20 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "it's happening..."

Someone is killing trees with an RPG?; 1/22/26, 9:21 AM
Beasts of England said...: 🙄; 1/22/26, 9:24 AM
Beasts of England said...: Will someone please explain this phenomenon.; 1/22/26, 9:28 AM
Douger said...: I have been seeing some AI generated “exploding trees”. It’s getting hard to distinguish the real from fake. Years ago I remember seeing pictures of the ground splitting from extreme sub zero temps. Those were probably real back then.; 1/22/26, 9:30 AM
Enigma said...: Utterly cool. Utterly cold. It brings to mind the old man-made "Circus Trees" of a now long gone roadside attraction:

https://www.gilroygardens.org/circus-trees/; 1/22/26, 9:33 AM
Peachy said...: Based on the bark - it looks like an Ash tree.

Ash trees are often weak due to the Emerald Ash borer.; 1/22/26, 9:33 AM
Just an old country lawyer said...: Shit. And here in the sunny South we're preparing for an ice storm and temps in the 20's (above zero).; 1/22/26, 9:56 AM
john mosby said...: The answer to the old question: what would Georgia O’Keefe have painted if she’d been a Northerner? CC, JSM; 1/22/26, 10:04 AM
Beasts of England said...: ’The answer to the old question: what would Georgia O’Keefe have painted if she’d been a Northerner?’

Golf clap.; 1/22/26, 10:13 AM
buwaya said...: I am already convinced we dont need to include Wisconsin in the restored Spanish Empire. You can keep it. You dont need to go on and on about it.; 1/22/26, 10:20 AM
Howard said...: That's exactly what was first on my mind, Mosby. Gaia's whoohaw; 1/22/26, 10:21 AM
Howard said...: Water is the most interesting molecule; 1/22/26, 10:22 AM
narciso said...: We can give to canada in trade for saskachewan; 1/22/26, 10:25 AM
Lawnerd said...: To the question what is happening. The water in the outer part of the tree freezes followed by the water in the center freezing. The frozen water expands relative to the water and causes the trunk to burst. Happens sometimes in very cold weather.; 1/22/26, 10:28 AM
Michael said...: That's an ash tree. My guess it was already killed by the Emerald Ash Borer (which has killed off all the ash trees in my region). Probably moist rot on the inside which froze, expanded, and burst thru the dead outer layers.; 1/22/26, 10:37 AM
Iman said...: All bark and no blight.; 1/22/26, 10:48 AM
Beasts of England said...: Thanks, Lawnerd!; 1/22/26, 10:59 AM
Jamie said...: Water is the most interesting molecule, Howard! The sine qua non for Life As We Know It (and maybe it's a failure of imagination on my part, but I tend to think Life In General).; 1/22/26, 11:21 AM
L Day said...: Ice expands slowly, wood flexes enough that ice would never make a tree explode like that. Once there was a lightning strike near enough to me to produce the loudest clap of thunder I’ve ever heard. I was safe in bed. The next day I saw the mulberry tree that had been hit by that lightening strike. It had exploded just like the tree in the photo.; 1/22/26, 11:32 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You could never know what it's like
Your blood like winter freezes just like ice
And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you
You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use I’m Still Standing —Elton John; 1/22/26, 11:51 AM
Hassayamper said...: 72 degrees and sunny today in Arizona.; 1/22/26, 11:56 AM
planetgeo said...: So, pretty much what has been happening to leftist brains in their "Winter of Trump". Explains everything.; 1/22/26, 12:02 PM
stlcdr said...: Is there anything we can't blame global warming for?; 1/22/26, 12:05 PM
rosebud said...: Shiver me timbers!; 1/22/26, 12:08 PM
LakeLevel said...: The extreme cold probably saves a lot more trees than it explodes. Emerald ash borers and all their eggs die at -20F, pushing the infestation line further south.; 1/22/26, 12:14 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "Winter of Trump"

Nobody tell them that for the Sioux of The Dakotas and the Cree, the first new moon of the new year is known, in various dialects, as the "Moon of the Cold-Exploding Trees". Add time travel to Donald's amazing supernatural powers!; 1/22/26, 12:20 PM
Rabel said...: Georgia O’Keefe!

Oh good Heavens. Some of you people have sex on the brain.

However, the little white fellow who's pleasuring the tree needs to go up a little higher.

It's an old problem. It's also an old picture.; 1/22/26, 12:29 PM
Rabel said...: Moving beyond the sex angle and on to photo analysis, there appears to be more wood in those elbows (or labia if you insist) than there is a place for the wood to have come from.

Didn't make sense until I realized that the tree is leaning heavily towards the camera.; 1/22/26, 12:41 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Looks fake to me. Video or it didn’t happen.; 1/22/26, 12:41 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "more wood"

That's what tree said.; 1/22/26, 12:44 PM
Rabel said...: Continuing on, let me point out that the trunk above the split is much larger than below the split. It's considerably closer to the camera.; 1/22/26, 12:48 PM
Jaq said...: "The extreme cold probably saves a lot more trees than it explodes. Emerald ash borers and all their eggs die at -20F, pushing the infestation line further south."

Well that could have saved me 32 trees. But on the other hand, I doubt I will have to every buy firewood again.; 1/22/26, 12:54 PM
Christopher B said...: Gotta agree with L Day. Ice is like a wedge. It will force cracks open but slowly. Steam is explosive, so lightning strike.; 1/22/26, 1:31 PM
Joe Bar said...: Whenever I hear about exploding trees, I recall the comment on “Band of Brothers” and Easy company at Bastogne.; 1/22/26, 1:39 PM
john mosby said...: Rabel: "Georgia O’Keefe! Oh good Heavens. Some of you people have sex on the brain."

Hey, she's the one with the dirty pictures! CC, JSM; 1/22/26, 2:04 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/22/26, 2:11 PM
n.n said...: The power of ice to drive a wedge and divide.; 1/22/26, 2:12 PM
Enigma said...: That looks too localized versus the long and linear lightning strike examples I can find (link below). I'm guessing the damage was caused by a guy with nearby branch or small tree trunk -- using leverage and twisting to stretch apart a dead and crumbly tree. The widest parts "<" and ">" are also smeared and darker brown, as if it was worked back and forth.

For pre-existing weakness, see the apparent insect holes near the top of the damage.

https://lancaster.unl.edu/lightning-strikes-will-my-tree-survive/; 1/22/26, 2:25 PM
Aggie said...: Looks pretty weathered to me, plus there's fresh snow inside the break, which would have come before the extreme cold - my guess is a previous lightning strike, too.; 1/22/26, 3:11 PM
Ralph L said...: Are the dogs sticking to the sidewalks?; 1/22/26, 3:30 PM
boatbuilder said...: Golf clap for JSM.
The best jokes are the old ones.; 1/22/26, 6:40 PM
Roadkill711 said...: This is, of course, all nonsense. I grew up in Northern Minnesota in the 1960’s and 1970’s and currently reside in Northwestern Wisconsin. I’m an avid outdoorsman and have never seen or even heard of such a thing as “exploding trees” until just this past month. It’s reminiscent of the term “Polar Vortex” (i.e. sub-zero temps) which also came right out of nowhere some 10 years ago.
I suspect this is all part of the climate change hysteria which permeates and distorts all contemporary weather reporting.; 1/22/26, 6:57 PM
Mason G said...: "It’s reminiscent of the term “Polar Vortex” (i.e. sub-zero temps) which also came right out of nowhere some 10 years ago."

Add to that "Atmospheric River" for heavy rain. And not "out of nowhere", these apocalyptic terms come right out of the pieholes of climate alarmists.; 1/22/26, 7:25 PM
Lazarus said...: If this were a movie the hole would be bigger and would be a portal to another world.; 1/22/26, 8:43 PM
Peachy said...: If you look very close, there sits a pager.; 1/22/26, 10:00 PM

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