Lightning strike

[Vinmac10]

I had lightning strike the corner of my workshop. It also hit a large hardwood about 75 -80 feet up and blew off some bark. There is probably another 25 to 30 feet of tree above this point. Is it pretty certain that the tree above the strike point will die? Or will the whole tree die? Or am I worried over nothing?

 

[ATH]

Not certain at all. And no..You aren't worried for nothing either!

Lightning does odd things. Sometimes it will kill a tree outright, but the tree seems to like OK and it would be hard to know what killed it if there wasn't a witness to the strike. Other times it will blow half of the tree away, but it lives for decades. I have been watching a white pine that got struck and has a bit streak down the whole height. The tree otherwise looks OK. 2 trees over in the row has been slowly Browning for a year.

I'd recommend having a qualified arborist out to assess the tree now (expect to pay for the assessment....If you just call a guy who does removals for his opinion, I can give you his answer now...). Unless it is really bad, they won't be able to give you a 'final' answer, but they will have a baseline to work from so they can make a better assessment in 2-3 years.

 

[Marine5068]

And just remember that every lightning strike won't be the same intensity so one tree can get struck and survive while the tree beside it may have gotten blown apart by an electrical intensity that was maybe 10 times more.

 

[ropensaddle]

I have found it depends on root-mass killed , if enough root-mass is fried, tree is a goner. However even if no root-mass was lost it can introduce a structural problem or if the tree was already stressed it could die from even a seemingly minimal strike. I see many old trees standing tall and proud with battle stripes some you can tell were different events, laying waste to the lightning never strikes twice wives tale. I agree with ATH get it accessed by a competent CA if your wishes are to keep the tree or if you need to know its condition to make an informed decision. He should trace the bark at the wound site and look for immediate defects and possible later structural defects and make recommendations after a thorough analysis of the findings ! PS: don't be alarmed if some recommendations are for a period of 2 years the tree may need that time and leaf-mass to survive the event!

 

[Marine5068]

Here's one
https://twitter.com/spann/status/85...m-the-inside-out-after-lightning-strike/81617