What Exploding Trees Taught Us About Our First Tennessee Winter

How we survived our first ice storm as California transplants...

At 2am Saturday night we woke up to what sounded like gunshots. It was trees exploding from the weight of the ice, their branches crashing against the side of our house as they fell. We lay there in the dark, not sure what we would find the next morning. Welcome to our first Tennessee winter storm!

We went through our first real ice storm this past weekend and I think because we were really prepared, it wasn’t as bad as we thought. Which is good. But I learned so much about weather that I had been completely clueless about during all my life in California.

There’s this IG account that everyone here follows called Nashville Severe Weather, and in the days leading up to January 24th they were doing constant updates and live YouTube streams breaking down exactly how bad the ice would be. That’s when I first heard terms like “freezing rain” and “exploding trees.” I had no idea these were even things. Back in California, sometimes my deliveries would get delayed and I’d see a notice that said “due to bad weather” and I’d just think, huh, I guess there’s a winter storm somewhere. I had no concept that there were so many more ways weather could go wrong beyond just snow or rain. Turns out snow is the fun fluffy part. It’s the freezing rain that comes afterward that creates real problems, coating everything in ice until tree branches can’t hold the weight anymore.

For my Substack family, the rest of this post is all the details. How we prepped, what each day looked like, what worked and what we’d do differently next time…