Question about Bald Cypress   Ernie Ostuno
  Apr 30, 2007 07:52 PDT 

ENTS,

Are young Bald Cypress trees very wind resistant? There was a powerful
tornado that hit Millers Ferry, AL on March 1st. One photo shows a
destroyed house, which would imply winds in the 170 mph range on the new
Fujita damage scale being used by the National Weather Service this
year. Near the remains of the house there are several young Bald Cyprus
trees that sustained very little damage:


National Weather Service
Mobile/Pensacola

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/cgi-bin/imageview.php?dir=/030107Tor&file=100_0458.jpg


The trees are at the left background of the photo. As you can see,
several other larger trees around the house (not sure of the species)
were uprooted/snapped off. I'm assuming that as a species, Bald Cypress
can withstand high winds well, hence their ability to attain great age
in the hurricane-prone areas of the SE US. Any input on the wind
resistance of young Bald Cypress would be appreciated.

Ernie
RE: Question about Bald Cypress   Will Blozan
  Apr 30, 2007 09:00 PDT 

Ernie,

The ONLY trees that survived Hurricane Hugo on my grandmothers property near
Charlestown SC were bald cypress. They either appeared unscathed or had a
slight windward "tweak". They were in the water at the edge of the Cooper
River.

Will
Re: Question about Bald Cypress   Neil Pederson
  Apr 30, 2007 10:23 PDT 
Ernie, ENTS,

Check out Putz & Shartiz's paper on hurricane damage in the Congaree Swamp
following Hurricane Hugo. It confirms Will's observation: they did not find
one tip-up baldcypress in all of their plots and only one while walking
through the Congaree. In comparison, >50% of the loblolly pines fell over.

*Putz* FE, *Sharitz* RR (*1991*) Hurricane damage to old-growth forest ...
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.

neil
RE: Question about Bald Cypress   Ernie Ostuno
  Apr 30, 2007 11:15 PDT 

Neil, Will,

Thanks for the excellent info. Hugo was a category 4 hurricane with top
winds estimated at 135 mph when it came ashore in South Carolina. You
can get a map of the wind speeds here:

1989hugo.jpg (74251 bytes)

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gifs/1989hugo.gif

It looks like bald cypress and burr oak are the champion "wind warriors"
of the tree world.

Ernie
RE: Question about Bald Cypress   Edward Frank
  Apr 30, 2007 14:19 PDT 

ENTS,

I had suggested in the past that the large buttressing at the base of
the trunk of the Bald Cypress might have developed in response to its
growing in wet or submerged areas with soft bottoms. If this is indeed
an adaptation to soft bottoms, maybe rocking back and forth in response
to the wind as the tree grows makes the buttresses grow larger, it might
also have the effect of helping prevent blow-overs by high winds and
hurricanes. just an idea...

Ed Frank
RE: Question about Bald Cypress   tuce-@msn.com
  May 01, 2007 07:01 PDT 

ENTS,                                                                 
Living in a Hurricane prone area has been a learning experience for me.
Having rode 3 Hurricane Eye Walls. 1979- Hurricane Frederic,125
mph,1985- Hurricane Elena,120mph and 1998- Hurricane Georges 120 mph.
What I noticed has been most downed trees are caused by Tornados,wind
gusts and rain soaked ground. Cypress have the advantage, in many ways.
Large bass, flexible and water resistant. These are my thoughts. 

Larry