I thought this might make an interesting subject for discussion. As I am sure some of you will know, part of the novel "Lorna Doone" is set during the winter 1683-84 (coldest in the CET record), and features some very evocative passages of the winter on Exmoor, including trees exploding, because of the intense cold. Of course, it is a novel, so the exploding trees on Exmoor may be artistic licence, but it seems to be historical fact, at least somewhere in Britain during that winter, think that John Evelyn recorded it in his diary, and also this from John Claudius London:
"The history of frosts furnishes very extraordinary facts. The trees are often scorched and burnt up, as with the most excessive heat, in consequence of the separation of water from the air, which is therefore very drying. In the great frost in 1683, the trunks of oak, ash, walnut, and other trees, were miserably split and cleft, so that they might be seen through, and the cracks often attended with dreadful noises like the explosion of fire-arms. In the frost of 1837–8 large bushes of heath had their stems split by the frost into shreds, and the wood of the evergreen oak and that of the sweet bay was cracked and split in a similar manner."
So I was wondering if anyone knows, or can approximate what temperatures were reached during that winter, because I've done some research and can't find much info on the temperature required to make British tree (e.g. English Oak), explode. Maybe minus 30?
Also was wondering if there are any reports of trees exploding in the greatest freezes of the 20th century, e.g. Jan 1940, 1963, maybe Jan 1987.
220m asl, edge of Brendon Hills