How Winter Storm Uri Forever Changed Tree Care in Central Texas – What Every Homeowner Must Know Today

When Winter Storm Uri swept through Texas in February 2021, it didn’t just cause power outages and burst pipes – it fundamentally transformed how Central Texas homeowners need to think about tree care. The storm, unofficially referred to as Winter Storm Uri by the Weather Channel, started out in the Pacific Northwest and quickly moved into the Southern United States, bringing record amounts of snow on Texas, with the frigid temperatures and severe weather impacting all 254 counties in the state.

The Unprecedented Nature of Winter Storm Uri

Winter storm Uri was an unprecedented experience for much of Texas. Temperatures fell well below freezing, plaguing the state for almost an entire week – and it hit right after a heat wave triggered many of our state’s trees into leafing out early. This timing created a perfect storm of vulnerability that caught both trees and homeowners completely unprepared.

Water expands when it freezes, and since trees are more than 50% water, trees that had started coming out of dormancy leading up to winter storm Uri were particularly vulnerable to frost cracks. As the water inside their trunk and branches froze, it expanded. But with their outer layer and bark also frozen, the outside of the tree wasn’t able to expand with the inside – leading to ruptures in the trunk and bark.

How Tree Care Standards Changed After Uri

The devastation from Winter Storm Uri forced tree care professionals and homeowners to completely rethink their approach. Texas A&M Forest Service and Neil Sperry, the Texas gardening and horticulture expert, joined forces this past spring to send a unified message across the state: wait. More specifically, Gretchen Riley, the Urban and Community Forestry program leader at Texas A&M Forest Service, asked Texans to wait until mid-July before cutting down leafless trees.

This “wait and see” approach became a new standard in post-Uri tree care, replacing the previous tendency to immediately remove damaged trees. Anything green means that the tree has a chance for recovery, experts emphasized, fundamentally changing how homeowners assess tree damage.

New Tree Assessment Protocols

The storm introduced Central Texas homeowners to new types of tree damage they had never encountered before. Many Texas landowners are finding deep, wide cracks in the trunks of their oak trees. According to Riley, these are an exaggerated manifestation of the more typical frost cracks or “radial shakes.” Frost cracks are caused by a tree’s inability to endure expansion and contraction of the bark and wood that results from the freezing of water inside of the tree.

Professional tree services now use different evaluation criteria when assessing storm-damaged trees. The good news is that trees have amazing, built-in mechanisms for recovering from trunk damage and frost cracks. So, trees with one or two cracks should be able to seal themselves with relative ease. Trees with multiple cracks or lots of exposed wood are unlikely to recover, and trees with few but deep cracks should be monitored closely.

Enhanced Safety Protocols

Winter Storm Uri also highlighted the critical importance of working with certified professionals. The Texas A&M Forest Service — along with Sperry and countless other industry experts — highly recommends enlisting the services of an I.S.A. certified arborist for storm damage assessment and removal.

For homeowners in Travis County seeking professional tree services, working with a reputable Tree Company in Travis County, TX has become more crucial than ever. The complexity of post-Uri tree damage requires expertise that goes beyond traditional tree care.

Long-Term Care Changes

The storm’s effects continue to influence tree care practices years later. More than nine months removed from Winter Storm Uri, Texans are still seeing the effects of the “Deep Freeze” with pine tree mortality. Allen Smith, Texas A&M Forest Service regional forest health coordinator, has inspected many tracts in East Texas this fall and has seen a large amount of pine tree mortality caused by Ips engraver beetles. Uri was a major stressor of trees, and the following extended droughty conditions throughout the pine regions of East Texas added additional stress.

This has led to new preventive care standards, including enhanced watering protocols and stress monitoring. They’ve been stressed, and they don’t need any more stress. So, when we get into the heat of August, one thing you might want to do is give them deep, supplemental watering once or twice.

What Homeowners Need to Know Today

Central Texas homeowners now need to approach tree care with a completely different mindset. The old assumptions about tree hardiness and recovery have been replaced with more nuanced understanding of stress factors and cumulative damage.

Key changes include:

• Implementing year-round monitoring for frost crack development
• Understanding that tree damage from extreme weather can manifest months or even years later
• Adopting patient assessment periods before making removal decisions
• Recognizing the importance of professional evaluation for storm-damaged trees
• Implementing enhanced watering and care protocols for stressed trees

Companies like ATX Blue Star Tree Service have adapted to these new realities, understanding that ATX Blue Star Tree Service offers expert tree care in Austin and Travis County. Their approach reflects the post-Uri understanding that We’re committed to sustainable practices that protect our environment, recognizing that proper tree care now requires a deeper understanding of climate resilience.

The Road Ahead

Winter Storm Uri didn’t just damage trees – it taught Central Texas an invaluable lesson about the changing nature of extreme weather and its impact on urban forestry. Recent extreme weather events present new challenges to our urban forest and it will likely be a few years before we have seen the full effects. Trees, by their nature, respond slowly to environmental changes and, if not properly cared for, can slide into a cycle of decline following storm damage or other severe weather.

For homeowners today, this means embracing a more proactive, informed approach to tree care – one that acknowledges both the vulnerability and resilience of our urban forest. The lessons learned from Uri continue to shape how we protect and nurture the trees that define Central Texas landscapes, ensuring they can weather whatever storms the future may bring.