The damage has been assessed, the debris has probably been cleaned up and hauled off. The weight of ice that accumulated on trees bent, kinked, and broke many branches. Now it's time to figure out what to do next in replacing yard trees that may have been lost to January's ice-storm in the Portland Metropolitan area. As spring approaches, homeowners can also do some things to toughen up surviving trees and get them in shape for any future ice storms. In many cases, severely damaged trees have already been removed and homeowners are looking at replacements.
Ice storms are common throughout the U.S. but occur with less frequency in the Pacific Northwest.
In fact, such storms are spotty enough that many homeowners and landscapers don't necessarily think about planting trees that can do battle with ice. The branches are often brittle and they hold their leaves late into the winter. The leaves then get icy and that causes problems. If you have one of these types of trees near a power line, you can kiss your power goodbye during an ice storm. That's precisely what happened to thousands of households in the Portland area as branches snapped left and right.