It is indeed possible for trees to split apart in extreme conditions and to do so quite noisily, she said, typically when there’s a big swing in temperatures. In these instances, sap rapidly freezes when the mercury plummets and the tree expands, its trunk or limbs busting open like the buttons on a too-tight shirt after Thanksgiving dinner.

A tree-mendous freeze. Forecasters are warning that expected subzero temperatures could cause trees to explode as a brutal cold snap is expected to wallop most of the country in the coming days. Trees may split and burst across the Midwest and Northern Plains Friday and Saturday as a bitter Arctic blast from Canada sends temperatures plunging to roughly 20 degrees below zero,