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Snow Load

Message from Jim Wilmington DE 7a

All the ones I've seen are very "skinny" and possessed of few branches. I'm thinking of a nice one in Haddonfield, NJ in someone's yard. The height of the tree exceeds the height of his 2-story house, but it may only have 1 or 2 branches beside the leader. In other words, the ones I typically see don't have enough structure (especially laterally) to create platforms for snow to accumulate to any great degree.

The one that was close to me -- the one at the Big & Tall store -- was kind of "branchy". It was also maybe just 12 or 15 feet tall. A juvenile tree, if you will. Another thing about that tree was that it abutted a very busy 6-lane road. I think it's very possible that as snow mounted up on it, the air disturbance from buses and large trucks whizzing by might have been sufficient to knock much of the snow off.

To your comment about them looking tropical. When I see them, I think of the Bahamas for some reason. There are similar looking pines in the Beatles' movie, "Help!", which was largely shot in the Bahamas.


See the pines in the background?


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