Frost Quakes

Submitted by Commercial_Case_7475 t3_10t3t11 in vermont

Has anyone else heard noises that sound like a gunshot ringing out? There is a fairly wet pasture uphill from me, and I have been hearing loud cracks ringing out for about 2 hours now. I think it could be the ground rapidly freezing and cracking apart, as there was barely any frost depth until this week. Temps are around -20F up here (1450ft), and wind chills around -40F. I was also able to hear the electricity moving through the power pole at my driveway... Super weird stuff, feel free to share any experiences so far.

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HomeOnTheMountain_ t1_j75e44m wrote

With it this cold, there's little to no moisture in the air which means there's very little resistance to sound waves.

Couple that with everything freezing to the point of brittleness and you get all sorts of weird noises from all angles and distances

It's pretty neat

Right now I can hear snaps and cracks up and down the mountain. It's loud enough to hear clearly through double pane windows

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Galadrond t1_j799ad2 wrote

Not to mention that snow starts to sound like Styrofoam when you step on it.

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mellercopter t1_j75gpnb wrote

Apparently there have been maple trees exploding because the sap expanded when it froze.

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Minamato t1_j75icyj wrote

Holy crap, that happens?

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ZippittyDooBlah t1_j76ca1p wrote

No, it doesn’t happen. Trees don’t “explode.” In extreme cold, you might hear loud gunshot-like sounds in the woods.

Trees contain water and that water can freeze and cause them to crack with a loud pop.

Trees don’t explode.

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mellercopter t1_j75ijwe wrote

Apparently, a meteorologist mentioned it was happening, but no video of it. I googled it and it's a thing. I guess it happens to untapped trees because of the larger amount of sap.

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amoebashephard t1_j76up37 wrote

Yeah, that's a regular April fool's joke around here lol, it is not really true

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mellercopter t1_j7763ee wrote

I thought so too, I've seen the video on Reddit from a few years back, but I guess it happened in Texas during their ice storm this year too. I'm taking it with a grain of salt, but everything I'm reading says it does happen when there are rapid drops to extreme cold temps since the freezing point of sap is really low. It looks like it could just result in large cracks in the trees vs like a Michael Bay explosion but it's supposedly sounds like gunshots and the Sioux and Cree have names for it.

I'm theost skeptical of skeptics normally but this one I'm not ruling out.

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Minamato t1_j75ld40 wrote

None of my maples get tapped! I should go check if they exploded (tomorrow)!

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Outrageous-Outside61 t1_j78xo73 wrote

I mean I’ve made the reference of trees exploding, but it really is just sap expanding and causing large cracks. Sometimes you’ll get a section that will split right off. It doesn’t matter if the trees tapped or not though

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RoyalIndependence500 t1_j768z3i wrote

Trees emit loud pops when it’s very cold outside. I’ve never heard of one exploding, just the loud popping can be surprising.

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Galadrond t1_j798zaa wrote

It happens. Certain kinds of trees are more susceptible to it. Sounds like anything from a gunshot, a loud cracking noise, to popping the cork off a wine bottle. It’s just rare-er in VT.

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RoyalIndependence500 t1_j7aoww5 wrote

I’ve heard it many times. My career was as a field going staff of the Forest Service and I also worked for years in the Adirondacks. You get the weirdest looks chopping up frozen beaver carcasses along the side of the road when your conducting fisher research, but I digress. In decades of research in the Forest year round, I’ve never heard of trees exploding from cold, but I’ve heard the very loud popping. So that’s a new one for me.

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verifiedboomer t1_j757arc wrote

Interesting.. similar conditions (even altitude), heard very loud series of bangs earlier. Thought maybe a tree limb hit the roof but nothing on the ground near the house.

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Commercial_Case_7475 OP t1_j757z1g wrote

Cracking sounds coming from your roof could definitely be your rafters moving with the cold. I had that sound too. These loud noises echoed down the whole mountain, it was crazy. Could have been the old dairy barn down the road moving I suppose, but damn it might be coming down with all that noise.

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Commercial_Case_7475 OP t1_j76asdj wrote

Having thought about it some more, and thanks to this information, I believe it is maple trees violently cracking. The edge of the pasture that I spoke of in the post is facing south and elevated above the surroundings, so it is likely that the trees there warmed up more than the ones in the woods. This would explain why I heard the noises only for the first few hours following sunset, since the sap was still readily flowing through the tree as it was freezing rapidly. I have definitely heard many loud cracks on a cold winter night, but this was exceptional.

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GrilledSpamSteaks t1_j76q860 wrote

When we lived in Altus Oklahoma, we experienced a winter storm that dumped 4” of sleet on everything and dropped temps to -10F for a week. Power went out, people left for civilization as soon as they could, real “time to go camping in our front room” kind of stuff. You could stand on the front porch at night and hear ice sheets cracking as the wind blew. Every so often I’d hear a loud pop followed by a skittering, tinkling sound then silence. In the morning, we’d find trees branches that froze and shattered. The pop was them breaking and the rest of the noise was tree particles and icicles falling and sliding across the area.

Went outside this morning to see the comet (only clear night we’ve had in forever) and heard the same sounds I heard then. Trees… Creepy ass trees. But now I don’t have to cut down any trees for firewood wood, just need to cut up what fell last night.

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eddiesmom t1_j794mxb wrote

Our first year we moved here, next to a lake, the first winter we heard weird, unearthly noises. Like deep, subterranean gurgles, bloops, and high pitched cracks. Locals told us it was the frozen lake.

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mannershmanners t1_j7c6pch wrote

I woke up at 5am yesterday to a loud bang, it sounded like someone dropping a huge book on the floor or something. I thought it might be a burst pipe but I checked everywhere and nothing was amiss. There’s a big spruce tree out front so maybe that was it.

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