Preparing Your Trees for Adelaide Storm Season

Adelaide's spring and summer storm season — typically October through March — brings the kind of conditions that reveal which trees have been properly maintained and which haven't. Fast-moving cold fronts, afternoon thunderstorms, and occasional severe downburst events produce wind gusts capable of snapping branches, splitting trunks, and uprooting trees with little warning.

The best time to deal with a potentially dangerous tree is before it becomes an emergency. Here's how to approach pre-storm tree assessment and preparation.

Start with a Walk-Around Assessment

Before storm season, walk around your property and look at each tree with these questions in mind:

• Are there large dead branches visible in the canopy?
• Does the tree have a significant lean — especially toward the house, a fence, or neighbouring property?
• Are there cracks, splits, or cavities in the trunk or major branches?
• Are there co-dominant stems (two main trunks) with a tight V-shaped fork rather than a flared U?
• Is there fungal growth at the base or on the trunk?
• Has the tree been lopped in the past, leaving stubs or heavily cut branches that have regrown as weak epicormic shoots?

Any tree with one or more of these features warrants a closer look before the storms arrive. See our post on 5 signs your tree needs to come down for more detail on each warning sign.

Species That Are Higher Risk in Adelaide

Some species are more prone to storm damage or sudden branch failure than others in Adelaide's conditions:

• Aleppo pines — common on older Adelaide blocks, prone to wind throw as they age and develop large asymmetric canopies
• Eucalyptus (gum trees) — several species are prone to sudden branch drop, particularly during or after hot, still conditions followed by storms; also vulnerable if previously lopped
• Canary Island palms — frond masses can add significant wind-load weight; old fronds left in place increase risk
• Large ornamental figs — surface roots and heavy canopy can lead to wind throw if root zone is compromised

This isn't a reason to remove healthy specimens of these species — it's a reason to be proactive about assessment and maintenance.

Pre-Storm Pruning: What Actually Helps

Not all pruning reduces storm risk — it needs to be targeted and appropriate:

• Crown thinning reduces the "sail area" of a canopy — the surface area that catches wind. A thinned canopy lets wind pass through rather than pushing against a solid mass of foliage. This genuinely reduces load and failure risk.
• Deadwood removal eliminates branches that are most likely to fall during storms — dead branches are dry, brittle, and lose their structural connection to the tree over time.
• Removing co-dominant stems or installing structural cabling where appropriate reduces the most common type of major structural failure.
• Weight reduction on long horizontal limbs can help where specific branches are clearly overextended.

What doesn't help — and makes things worse — is heavy lopping. Cutting a tree back to stubs creates a short-term size reduction but causes vigorous epicormic regrowth, which is weakly attached and creates more failure points over time, not fewer.

After a Storm Event

If a tree on your property is damaged in a storm, the priority order is:

1. Ensure safety first — if a tree is on a structure or there's risk of further collapse, call the SES on 132 500 for emergency assistance
2. Document damage with photos before any clean-up begins — important for insurance purposes
3. Contact us for professional removal of the fallen or damaged material

We handle storm damage clean-up across all Adelaide suburbs and prioritise urgent work after significant weather events.

When to Call for a Professional Assessment

Not every tree concern requires immediate removal or expensive work — but some do. If you're uncertain about a specific tree, an on-site assessment is the right step. We'll look at the tree's structure, health, and position and give you an honest recommendation. If targeted pruning will manage the risk adequately, we'll say so. If the tree is a genuine hazard that needs to come down, we'll say that too.