When storms roll through, like we've have seen plenty of times this summer, downed trees can cause the most damage and headaches. While we can often see storms coming days in advance, what if we could also predict what trees are in danger of falling down? 

“I wasn’t super surprised with the tree damage from such a high-level storm," said Leanna Nugent, a community forestry educator for the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County. 

The damage seen across New York state from the historic amount of tornadoes last month is jarring. Buildings torn apart, roofs removed and tree debris covering the ground. Fallen trees, especially, can be very dangerous, and some are more likely to come down than others. 

“A high-risk tree has to meet all three of those thresholds," Nugent said. "It has to be likely to fail, likely to impact something and cause severe consequences.” 

She's responsible for teaching people how to identify issues with trees. She says tree risk assessments are done to determine if a tree meets those thresholds. 

“And they’ll do that for every tree, part of concern on the tree," she said. "So one tree might have five different risk assessments on it, depending on the tree or tree part, or even depending on the target you’re concerned about.”

So, what do high-risk trees look like? 

“A tree that has a major structural defect," Nugent said. "It could be a lot of decay, it could be a hanging branch, it could be codominant leaders, which are two large leaders that are coming up from the center of the trunk.”

If you have trees in your backyard or around your home, check to see if it’s aimed toward your property or something else of value, like a vehicle. 

“If you’re just looking at a tree in your backyard and you're concerned about it, any time you're concerned, I always say to call a professional and a professional that is a certified arborist, that has a tree-risk assessment qualification," she said.

“Anything in the world has risk," Nugent continued. "And so, you know, trees are just among the things that we have to worry about in terms of risk.”