How much wind force is needed to split a palm tree?

It seems that autumn finally arrived in Spain after an eternal summer in San Miguel. It’s not just the temperature that has dropped. They arrived too rains and those winds very strong in some parts of the country. Strong enough to become popular video of a Seville lady telling how she sees palm which first deforms and then falls to the ground.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. Last year, for example, there was a similar episode, but much sadder. This happened in March 2022, when strong gusts of wind broke a palm tree, fell on a motorcycle and a carwhich cost the lives of two of its drivers.

On the other side of the pond, videos of palm trees swaying violently to the rhythm of the wind from the mountains are also typical. hurricanes. But these cases are surprising; Well, despite the severity of the storm, they remain largely untouched. Palm trees seem designed to withstand hurricanes. Although in reality it doesn’t just seem that way. Evolutionarily speaking, they are ready to resist them.

Palms are not trees

Living near a palm tree in a windy place can sometimes be very scary. It’s shocking how Bend to the rhythm of the wind, sometimes even joining forces if they are on the side of the street. However, while other seemingly stronger trees can lose their branches in much less strong winds, palm trees usually resist much more.

It’s because there are palm trees they are not trees, Correctly said. True, they are very similar to them, with a raised trunk and leaves on top. However, they are much closer to herbs.

In fact, what we see in the shape of a trunk is not actually one. Tree trunks are structures woody and branched which grow outward in the form rings. Therefore, the age of the tree is calculated from these rings. But in the case of palm trees, we see the stem. That is, a structure made up of the remains of old leaves and conductive tissues that have become lignified, taking on the appearance of wood.

If they are not trees, they will resist the wind better.

The wood can withstand the first gusts of wind well. However, despite very strong gusts of wind, it won’t take long to crack. This is why you need to be careful with falling branches or even entire trunks.

On the other hand, the false trunk of a palm tree is not made of wood, but of fabric. much more flexible. This scares us at first because we see how they move with the wind, sometimes very strongly, like in hurricanes. But they are unlikely to break completely.

To understand this better, we can take a twig and a blade of grass. If you place it next to a fan, the blade of grass will move a lot, but the branch will not. However, if you apply a little more force and bend them with your hands, the blade of grass will remain intact, but the twig will break.

Ready for hurricanes

All this makes palm trees ideal plants that can withstand hurricane winds. But there is something interesting. It has been noticed that palm trees grow in places where hurricanes are frequent. even more stableespecially at higher elevations.

This may be due to the fact that they have learned to withstand hurricane winds. There is a lot of talk about the species of animals that are selected for adapt to the environmentbut we forget that the same can happen to plants.

We must not forget that palm trees are very ancient plants that were already growing on our planet at least 10 years ago. 100 million years. They had enough time to develop.

Therefore, it is expected that specific wind gusts in areas where wind is less common may knock down palm trees. Moreover, they resist much more strongly if they are in the place of their birth than when They were transferred to another point.

These are all the reasons why the Seville woman in the viral video might not have seen the palm tree fall if she had been in the middle of a hurricane. Although if it were a hurricane, it must be said that it would be inappropriate to watch the spectacle from the window.