Weird Sight A Little While Ago

[ProfessorGAC]

I went to the Circle K for gas.
As I'm approaching the intersection (maybe 200 feet away) I look up forward and right toward the big liquor store on the other corner.
Suddenly, a tree behind it just disappeared. It had to miss power lines, because the whole plaza had power.
I got to the station & some other people were pumping gas.
I said "Am I seeing things, or did a tree just fall over behind that store?" They all saw it, too.
It's not even windy today. 5 or 6mph breeze is all.
That tree was probably 50' tall, so it has to have a pretty hefty trunk.
Also, even with the top down on my car, I heard nothing. So, maybe we now have an answer to the "tree falls in a forest" question!

[sdfernando]

1. Sure it wasn't cut down on purpose?

Chainsaw would have stopped before it fell and those people know how to get a tree down safely.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Maybe

But, the people pumping gas would gave heard the chainsaw. They were there & stopped for a while, even before I got there.
I'm guessing one of them would have said they heard the saw.
Also, it was covered in leaves, so not dead and decrepit. Sunday seems an odd day for avtree crew to be working.
But, it's possible.

[rsdsharp]

4. In May, we had a portion of a large birch tree fall. We didn't hear a thing,

and didn’t know it had happened until the Trumper who lives next door rang the doorbell and said,your tree almost hit my truck!”

Conversely, a month before that we had a very large ash tree taken down. They did it in sections, but when they dropped the main trunk — 30-40 feet from the house — the impact literally bounced me in my chair.

[electric_blue68]

10. Woah!

[Shermann]

5. Maybe it was an Ent that walked away! nt

[BlueGreenLady]

6. Last year, I watched as a huge maple tree topple over.

It was after a heavy rain and it was growing on a steep bank. Was there one minute and down the next. Did not hear any thud even. Glad nothing was under it.

[Niagara]

7. In 2017, one of our white ash trees lost a heavy limb

It fell across our firepit, outside garbage cans and the leafy part landed on the roof, luckily without any roof damage.


There had been no storm, we hadn't had wind and it had been awhile since we had rain.


In 2018, we had to have both of our white ash trees taken out as they were diseased with an ash borer infestation. Both trees were close to our house, they both towered over the house and here in WNY we can get some extremely dangerous wind gusts. So obvious a safety issue.


I already burnt through my wood from both trees in my fire pit.


Anyway, if a tree is diseased it can lose a limb or eventually just topple over.

[electric_blue68]

11. Always live in apt buildings, luckily usually trees up & down the the blocks, neighborhoods, and nearby parks...

of various sizes.

I definitely get the danger, though.

But when I was around ?10 ('63) in certain areas of NYC many of our Elm trees were affected by Dutch Elm Disease. 😔 We lost a bunch up & down the avenue.

We lost sooo many! I watched them cut down a ? 5-6 story high one our corner.
Luckily not all. The two on the next block survived. 🩷🩷

Those two were still alive several yrs ago (very old nabe, I occasionally pass through), and were ? 7 stories high.
You'll find somestilm around NYC Burroughs. 🩷🌳🩷🌳🩷🌳🩷

[LudwigPastorius]

8. It was a glitch in The Simulation.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/10/18275618/simulation-hypothesis-matrix-rizwan-virk

[Sogo]

9. You didn't drive around the block to see the back of the store to see what happened?

I would have been on it before going to the gas station....

[HeartsCanHope]

12. Cue Unsolved Mysteries theme!

Seriously, strange thing to happen. 50 ft. tall tree would have very deep roots. Thanks for answering, "If a tree falls in the forest..." question! Take care.

[Figarosmom]

13. Sink hole? Nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

14. Are you in the EAB infestation area?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_ash_borer

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Accoding To That Map, No

It would have been here 2002-2022, if that map is accurate. But, the purple is this year, and this are (exurbs of Chicago) are all light blue.
We do have ash trees around here, but I don't remember folks losing them in substantial numbers during that 20 years.
I don't know what kind of tree the one I saw go down was, though. I was still a hundred yards away, or more. Could have been an ash.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

17. When the borers move in, they don't move out.

I'm in the light blue and I've lost a few ash trees. They look healthy, then they don't, then they fall over. Never had one fall silently, though.

[XanaDUer2]

15. Kick