While many homeowners only think about protecting their trees once the wind starts howling, the most effective protection happens before storms start blowing through. Proper previous planning can mean the difference between a tree that weathers the storm and one that crashes through a roof and has you scrambling to file a homeowners insurance claim.
Contrary to popular belief, a tree doesn’t need to be visibly rotting to be a hazard. Factors like soil saturation, improper pruning history, and recent landscaping changes can silently turn a healthy-looking tree into a liability waiting to happen.
Let’s identify and examine the necessary steps to protect against the devastating effects strong winds and storms can have on your trees and your property.
Ask an Arborist
The number one thing homeowners should do to prepare for storms and high winds is to have an arborist out to your home to examine your trees. This way you know what the primary concerns and risk factors are before the wind starts blowing.
There should be no skipping this important preparatory step; without knowing which trees are at risk, you’re flying blind into the storm and depending on luck to keep you home and your property safe.
One of the things people underestimate is that any kind of landscaping change, even in your neighbor’s yard, could be affecting your trees. So, any kind of changes you make – construction, landscaping, hardscapes, ponds – all of these things affect trees.
Did we mention that having an arborist conduct a thorough walk-through of your property comes at no cost whatsoever to you?
Don’t skip this step. You invested a lot of money and time in your house, your yard, and your trees; don’t take them for granted – be proactive.
Prune Trees Before The Storms Come
Normally we start to see our first winter storms around December up here in the Pacific Northwest. And most people like to get their trees pruned at the end of November. It makes sense, right, and it’s before the stormy season begins.
But that’s one of the biggest things that we wish homeowners knew better. If you prune your trees even earlier in the year – like in the summer – then your trees have time to adjust to the changes we made while pruning.
One of the tallest trees and one of the most prone to storm damage is the Douglas fir; it gets up to 200 feet tall. That’s a big trunk and a lot of branches to inflict potential damage. When we do have a storm, we don’t get a bunch of calls from the people who had their fir trees pruned. The calls we get from storm damage are from the people who did not prune their trees.
So the second most important thing homeowners can do to protect trees – and your house – from storm damage is to prune your trees at least a couple of months before the stormy weather starts in earnest.
This proactive, professional pruning doesn’t just shorten the height of the tree; it also reduces wind resistance and removes structural weaknesses that could fail under the pressure of high winds and heavy rain.
At Urban Forest Pro, we pride ourselves on the number of people who don’t call us when there’s a storm. If we get one or two calls, that’s ok, because if we’re doing our jobs correctly, there really shouldn’t be more than that. But if there are a bunch of calls coming in following a storm, then we would be looking at our quality control.
Top 3 Red Flags to Look for When Assessing Storm Risk
1. Neglected Trees
If your trees have never been pruned, there’s a good chance old or hidden storm damage is still up there in the canopy, and it’s putting your property at risk. If this is you, look up in your trees and see if you notice weak-looking limbs, brown or dead leaves/needles, rot, or visible signs of insect damage.
Trees overdue for pruning are far more likely to fail during high winds simply because no one has ever addressed the weak or damaged limbs.
2. Improper Pruning
Surprisingly, this is often worse than no pruning at all. Trees that have been cut incorrectly are frequently left more vulnerable to storm damage than trees that were never touched.
Improper pruning can permanently damage a tree’s structure, and too often the damage is irreversible. In the worst cases, homeowners end up paying twice: once for the botched pruning job, and again for removal after the tree fails.
3. Saturated Soil and Poor Drainage
A perfectly healthy, well-pruned tree can still fail if it’s standing in saturated soil during a windstorm. Pooling water and poor drainage weaken root stability, and the cause isn’t always obvious.
It could be a drainage issue in your yard, or a new hardscape feature next door (like a neighbor’s new pool) changing how water flows across your property. Arborists are often the first to spot this issue, even though the fix usually requires bringing in a landscaper or excavation specialist.
Evergreen trees are at particular risk of saturated soil, because they carry the weight of their foliage all year-round.
What Should a Homeowner Do Right Now if They’re Worried About Storm Damage?
As we touched on earlier, your best move is to act before the weather hits, not after.
Waiting until a storm has already damaged a tree limits your options and will probably wind up costing you more. If a weak, diseased limb breaks and is threatening your house, emergency response typically costs about double the normal rate, since crews are pulled off other work and the risk involved is higher. Getting an arborist out to walk your property and getting your trees pruned well before storm season are the two best steps you can take.
Wind is rarely the sole cause of tree damage during a storm. The most common culprit is a combination of heavy rain or wet snow/ice (especially if it refreezes) plus wind, even moderate wind. Saturated soil weakens roots, and the added weight from ice, wet snow, or nonstop rain (particularly on evergreens like the Douglas fir) causes limbs or whole trees to fall.
Once a tree has failed or partially failed, it becomes far less predictable – and way more dangerous – than a standing tree. This is why storm-damage removal requires more specialized (and more expensive) equipment and safety precautions. Don’t assume a fallen tree is safe to approach or assess by yourself; call a professional.
A cheaper bid from a general tree-cutting crew can end up costing far more in the long run than paying more upfront for a certified arborist. Improper pruning on a tree can take three to four corrective prunings over 9–15 years to fix. So in this case, the total cost of “fixing the fix” can run many times higher than doing it right the first time.
When comparing quotes, ask specifically about the skill level and training of the person who will actually be doing the work, not just the company name, and certainly don’t solely rely on online reviews.
Neighbor Disputes and Insurance Liability
Whether on Judge Judy or neighborhood chatter, we’ve all heard the horror stories about trees from a neighbor’s yard falling and doing damage to someone else’s yard or property. If a neighbor’s tree falls on your property, in most cases, unless negligence can be proven, insurance companies view this as an “Act of God.” This means the owner of the damaged property (you) files the claim with your own insurance, not against the neighbor’s homeowners policy.
However, if a certified arborist inspected the tree in question and determined that it presents a risk, and you’ve previously shared this information with your neighbor, there’s a chance of proving negligence. In Portland, you can report dangerous trees on private property to the city if they pose a clear safety risk.
Neighborly Steps to Take Before a Storm
- Communicate: Talk to your neighbor about your concerns. Open communication often solves the issue before it becomes a legal battle.
- Document: If a tree looks dangerous, keep a record of your requests to address it.
- Inspect: Have a certified arborist assess your own trees to demonstrate you have performed due diligence.
Protecting Trees from Storms and Wind Starts With Inspection
When it comes to protecting your trees from storms, the best defense isn’t something you do after it’s blowing a gale. It’s what you do months, even years, before the first severe storm warning ever hits your phone. Think of it like a check-up: the goal isn’t to fix a tree after it’s already cracked and leaning over your roof; it’s to catch the small problems while they’re still small.
That starts with getting a certified arborist out to walk your property and look at the trunk, root health, canopy balance, and any early signs of decay or disease that could turn a strong tree into a downed one the next time the wind kicks up. A tree that looks perfectly healthy from your kitchen window can be hiding weak root systems that make it far more susceptible to snapping or uprooting in a severe storm.
Beyond the arborist inspections, a few everyday habits make a real difference too. Good drainage keeps roots anchored and healthy instead of sitting in waterlogged soil that weakens their hold. And steering clear of things like over-pruning, soil compaction from heavy equipment, or piling mulch against the trunk goes a long way toward keeping a tree structurally sound for the long haul.
Don’t wait for the wind to blow; prevention is always safer and more affordable than the cure.
