LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Who had “exploding trees” on their January 2026 bingo card?

Americans in six states, including Michigan, are under an “exploding trees” warning as a frigid winter storm prepares to slam the U.S. Meteorologists say temperatures in the Midwest and Northern Plains are predicted to fall to 20 degrees below zero this weekend. Those temps cause the insides of trees to freeze. That means the “frost cracking” occurs when sap and water inside the tree freeze and expand against the bark.

The speed at which the trees explode make it sound like gunshots.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, northern Iowa, and Illinois will likely the in the path of the tree phenomenon during the extreme cold.

More than half of the U.S. and over 150 million Americans are in the path of the giant winter storm which is expected to dump snow and ice in the Midwest, Northeast, and South. In addition, severe ice storms are predicted to slam the South, from Texas to Virginia.