Lightning Hit Your Tree in Richmond Hill?

There was a crack you felt in your chest during last night’s storm. In the morning there’s a long, raw stripe down the big tree in the backyard and bark scattered across the grass. Lightning has hit it. Now you’re wondering whether the tree is safe, whether it will live, and what to do first.

What Lightning Does to a Tree

The damage you see is only part of it. A strike affects a tree in three ways.

The Bark Strip

The current runs down the wet layer just under the bark and turns the water to steam in an instant. That blows a strip of bark off the trunk, often from high in the crown right down to the ground, sometimes in a spiral following the grain. Pieces can land many metres away.

Cracks Inside the Trunk

The same burst of steam can split the wood deeper inside. Sometimes the trunk splits open where you can see it. Sometimes the cracks are internal and the tree looks solid when it isn’t.

Root Damage

The charge spreads into the soil through the roots. Roots can be killed without any sign above ground, which is why some trees look fine for a few weeks and then wilt.

Is Anyone in Danger Right Now?

Start with safety, before you worry about the tree.

• If anything is smoking or burning, call 911.
• A fallen wire, or a branch lying across one, means keeping ten metres away and phoning 911 or Alectra Utilities.
• Keep children and dogs well clear until someone has checked the tree. Loose bark and cracked limbs can fall without warning.
• Don’t park under it, and don’t stand under it to take photos.
• Leave hanging pieces where they are. Nobody should climb a struck tree.

How to Read the Damage

From a safe distance, look at the tree as a whole.

• A narrow strip of missing bark, no split: there’s a good chance the tree recovers. Watch it into next spring.
• A wide strip, or bark gone on more than one side: the tree has lost much of its ability to move water and sugar. Many decline.
• An open seam down the trunk: the tree is structurally damaged and may fail in the next wind.
• Limbs hanging or twisted: they need to come down before they fall.
• Leaves browning in the weeks after: roots or inner wood are hurt, and the tree may be dying.

Why Some Trees Get Hit

Lightning tends to find the tallest point around. In Richmond Hill that means big old oaks, maples and white pines on the larger lots in Bayview Hill and Observatory, single tall trees on open ground near Lake Wilcox, and trees standing alone at the edge of a field or park in Oak Ridges. A tree with wet bark after rain conducts better, which is why some strikes leave less damage than you’d expect.

Owners of very large, valuable trees sometimes add a lightning protection system with a cable running to ground. That’s specialist work and not something we install.

If the Tree Has to Come Down

A struck tree that is split or stripped on several sides, standing close to a house, generally has to go, and soon. We take it apart piece by piece starting at the crown, roping each section to the ground so the roof and fence stay untouched. Read about storm-damaged tree removal for how we handle it. Richmond Hill’s Tree Preservation By-law 19-25 requires a City permit for private trees measuring 15 cm or more across at chest height, and hazardous trees can follow a different process, so ask the City first. Boulevard trees are City property; report those to Access Richmond Hill at 905-771-8800.

If the tree only lost a narrow strip, we may suggest leaving it, taking out any damaged limbs, and watching how it leafs out next spring. That’s often the honest answer.

Watching a Struck Tree Through the Year

If the tree stays, the next twelve months tell the story. A few checkpoints help you know what you are seeing.

• The first few weeks: leaves wilting or turning brown on one side point to root or trunk damage on that side.
• The first fall: early colour and early leaf drop show a stressed tree.
• Next spring: a full, even leaf-out is the best sign. Bare or thin sections mean those parts of the crown have died.
• The wound edges: a healthy tree grows a ridge of new bark along the edge of the strip. No ridge, or bark lifting further, means it isn’t closing.
• Fungus on the trunk: conks or mushrooms on the exposed wood mean decay has started.

Having It Checked

Phone or text us at (289) 475-5822 between 8 in the morning and 8 at night, any day. We have no after-hours crew, so if someone is injured or a power line has fallen, dial 911 before anything else. A picture of the trunk and another of the whole tree help us plan. Scott can usually visit that day, give you a straight answer on whether it can stay, and price the job for free. Afterward we take the wood away and rake and sweep the yard.