Ice storms to start the new year? Sure, why not.

We've been concerned about this old oak, ever since we bought this place. The distance from the tree to the buck's playhouse is so narrow, I couldn't squeeze through. The space looks bigger, because of the steepness of the slope, but the ground drops off, right in front of those bricks, so less than 2feet, between the corner and the tree, and on the ground, only a couple feet from the fence. John said the ice was what was weighing the fence down - the tree didn't even touch it. This whole goat paddock is attached to our deck, with this little playhouse being the only structure between the tree and our house. Also, that corner of our house that would have been crushed? That's where Bailey's (our Irish Wolfhound) crate is. If this tree had gone down in almost any other direction, the potential losses would have been devastating.

We also lost a HUGE Rose of Sharon that was on the other side of the buck's house, in the pics, that was actually touching both our house and deck.

I think that's an EXCELLENT way to start the new year! That's the absolute best outcome you could have had for that tree coming down, I'm SO GLAD it fell so precisely!

Happy New Year to you, John, and all the animals! :D

And, now we don't have to cut it down ourselves(kinda a scary prospect, all things considered), we won't have to pay a pro to do it for us,  and it's close to the house, so will be easy to cut up & move the 30 yards or so, to the firewood storage area.

Yikes, too close for comfort. I'm glad fortune smiled on you.

2020 went out like crazy.

I can't take pictures though it looks like a tornado came through and wiped out all our cedar trees and big mesquite tree.  At least 6 trees that I can see from windows.

Our beloved cedar on our front patio is the worst.  It was a huge tree and now reduced to a pile of broken limbs.

All from an ice storm.  

Poor birds are looking for their feeder that is in the rubble.

No phone service.  Finally found out the cell tower has no service.

Anne Miller wrote:2020 went out like crazy.

I can't take pictures though it looks like a tornado came through and wiped out all our cedar trees and big mesquite tree.  At least 6 trees that I can see from windows.

Our beloved cedar on our front patio is the worst.  It was a huge tree and now reduced to a pile of broken limbs.

All from an ice storm.  

Poor birds are looking for their feeder that is in the rubble.

No phone service.  Finally found out the cell tower has no service.

I remember what that was like. Hopefully it will not last as long for you. Good thing you are a permie! Lots of people here were not prepared at all.

Perfect new year present from nature.

Did you hear any pops or booms when the tree fell? Have an ice storm in Kansas today. At about 2 am today heard many pops from trees limbs. Not the best way to start the new year.  

T Blankinship wrote:Did you hear any pops or booms when the tree fell? Have an ice storm in Kansas today. At about 2 am today heard many pops from trees limbs. Not the best way to start the new year.  

We heard something, last night, but I've heard tree-splosions before, and that wasn't what it sounded like, to me. On the other hand, this tree was almost completely dead, already, so probably would sound different? If that wasn't what we heard, then, nope - we'd have been asleep, and while it was terrifyingly close to our dogs bed, is was at the opposite end of the house, which is all logs, so not a big surprise.

Glad to see the tree is safely on the ground.

We had a huge tree tip over 2 years ago, but it didn't make it all the way so we were always wondering when it would finish its journey and exactly where it would land. We've got a bunch near the house that Hubby keeps promising to deal with, but it hasn't happened as he's not convinced he won't take out the power lines to the house.

This morning started out with ice at our house, at dawn my cedar trees were drooped over pretty badly but by 9 am or so it had warmed up and turned to a downpour that lasted a couple hours> Mid afternoon was sunny and about 50 F, then started clouding up again by dark.

I had a similar experience with trees. When the ash trees all died I paid a fellow $600 to cut down the two biggest ones right in front of house but couldn't afford to have him do a grove of  out back. They were a little farther but plenty tall enough to reach the house if they fell over at the base and they were too big for me to tackle on my own so I stressed about them ever time I went outside, calculating will I have time to safe up money or figure something out before one falls and destroy the roof?

Then one night we had a storm, I didn't even wake up during it. Next morning I went out something looked weird, finally figured out every single one of those trees had snapped about 20 feet off the ground. They all fell perfectly aligned along the edge of the yard. I didn't have to do anything except cut them up for fire wood and the twenty foot main trunks were no longer tall enough to hit the house so I dropped them too. It was enough to heat the house all season. Quite a blessing I thought, although I do miss my big shade trees.

We got ice and freezing rain out in Maryland too. When I went to close the chicken coop on New Year’s Eve, I found that I almost had to army crawl under the bird netting that had literally become a net of ice and had fallen under its own weight. I’d hardly ever seen something so beautiful... but annoying. I would have gotten pictures, but my bald head was asking me to hurry up and get out of there.

I  still have ice, and have fluffy wet snow with freezing fog keeping it going.
I'm surprised how much snow can stick to a cattle panel arch! I didn't think wire could balance that much snow.
I took a picture, we have pretty much white out fog, and it's not a fantastic shot. Normally the pictures I take off my phone need the contrast boosted to make them look right, didn't help this one.

Pearl Sutton wrote:

Even something as cold and “dead” as ice can be beautiful

Took these yesterday afternoon and evening:

Burrr...

Years ago when I was staying in Missouri their was some crazy hail storms in March. Broken trees and golf ball sized hail.