Are Lightning Strikes Worse On Softwood Trees Than Hardwood Trees

On the other hand softwood conifers do not pass the winter with bare branches.

Are lightning strikes worse on softwood trees than hardwood trees.

Now what s interesting about this is that most trees do not survive lightning strikes. Well most trees aren t 200 feet often 300 feet tall and 25 feet wide. Conifer wood contains only a few different cell types. Hardwood information specifies that hardwood trees are deciduous.

Tree protection against lightning strikes. Lightning damage in trees. When lightning hits a tree it steams water inside the tree busts bark from the trunk and branches and can even split a tree open in extreme cases. This means that the leaves fall off in autumn and the tree remains leafless through springtime.

A few simple tests help you differentiate hardwood from softwood trees. Also known as gymnosperm trees softwood trees are defined by their ability to produce seed bearing cones or fruit which they drop to reproduce. Furthermore softwood trees don t enter a state of dormancy during the winter like hardwood trees. The redwoods have considerably more heft and though will suffer some damage rarely will die completely.

Qualified arborists can recommend the installation of lightning protection systems where appropriate or the proper course of action if a tree has been struck by lightning. Lightning damage in trees is much more effectively prevented than repaired and is often less costly. That s why some trees violently explode when struck by lightning. The spark of death.

When lightning strikes a tree you usually have to take a wait and see approach. For the trees that live for a few years you can run into the problem of the lightning scars and loss of bark making the tree more exposed to insects and diseases. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a. Once the lightning strikes the electricity will be diverted to the cable.

Unlike hardwood trees softwood trees generally don t shed their leaves once a year. When lightning strikes the sap in the bark of the tree is subject to extreme temperatures many times hotter than the surface of the sun due to electrical resistance. The wood of hardwood trees has more cell types and less air spaces. Hardness can be said to be a function of the wood s density and hardwood trees are generally denser than softwood trees.

Tree damage from a lightning strike. Although sometimes old needles. Some trees die immediately from the damage while other trees will live for a number of years. They re fried down to the roots and don t recover.