{"id":351880,"date":"2026-07-25T03:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351880\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T03:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:14:32","slug":"is-your-tree-at-risk-of-falling-this-storm-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351880\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your tree at risk of falling this storm season?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sp1160fjdq9hssjt.jpg\" alt=\"Monitoring trees during storm season\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sp1160fjdq9hssjt.jpg\" alt=\"Monitoring trees during storm season\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image\" data-v-6546b402=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/video\/fmc-nfeupneef77a4fvn\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Monitoring trees during storm season<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-892ef6a8=\"\">A certified arborist is urging property owners to inspect their trees for signs of disease and structural failure ahead of severe weather. FOX 13&#8217;s Danielle Zulkosky reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; A certified arborist is urging property owners to inspect their trees for signs of disease and structural failure ahead of severe weather.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Lee Claxton, a board-certified arborist, explained that a healthy, well-pruned tree serves as the best defense against severe storm damage.<\/p>\n<p> Identifying weak trees  <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Claxton walked around his property on Friday to point out warning signs of a weakened tree, including branches overburdened with weight, poor attachments or visible decay. He highlighted a laurel oak dying from oak wilt, a fungal pathogen that travels underground from root to root.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tree-advice.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  Recognizing structural danger <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Claxton said branches growing straight up or at sharp angles under 45 degrees are highly prone to breaking in high winds, especially when bark grows into itself.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;There&#8217;s a bunch of stems coming out in the same place, and those steeply attached branch junctures are typically very weak and easy to break,&#8221; Claxton said.<\/p>\n<p> Spotting healthy growth <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What You Should Know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Strong trees feature wide, broad branch attachments that create a U-shape rather than a tight V-shape. Claxton noted that roots popping up out of the ground indicate an active, dangerous situation where a tree is currently failing and could topple at any moment.<\/p>\n<p> Handling tree removal <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Every municipality maintains specific guidelines for removing trees based on size and species. Property owners should check local regulations and consult an arborist before taking down any tree.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: The information in this story was gathered from interviews conducted by Fox 13 reporter Danielle Zulkosky with board-certified arborist Lee Claxton.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/weather\/severe-weather\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Severe Weather<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/environment\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Environment<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monitoring trees during storm season A certified arborist is urging property owners to inspect their trees for signs&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1563,115,10173,135,137,136,221],"class_list":["post-351880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-environment","tag-news","tag-severe-weather","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}