Shoreline Trees and Winter Wind on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay

Shoreline trees on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay face winter wind off open water with nothing to slow it, wet lake-effect snow and freezing spray that load the lake side, and thin shoreline soil that gives roots less to hold. The result: lean, broken limbs, uprooted trees and debris on the roof. A fall walk-around decides what gets trimmed before closing; winter visits check what the wind has done since.

If you close the cottage in October and open it in May, the trees along your shore spend the whole winter doing something you never see.

Why is a shoreline tree different from a tree in town?

A maple on a street in Owen Sound or Collingwood has a lot going for it. Houses, hills and other trees take the edge off the wind. The soil is usually deeper. Snow lands on it from above and more or less evenly.

A white pine on a Lake Huron bluff has none of that. Several things work against it at once:

• Open-water fetch. Wind that has travelled across a lake with nothing in its way reaches the shore at full strength. The first row of trees takes all of it.
• One-sided loading. Lake-effect snow is heavy and wet, and it arrives on the wind, so it packs onto the lake side of the canopy. Rime (ice that builds from freezing fog) and spray ice do the same. Over the years the wind dries and strips the lake side of the tree. Add one-sided snow and ice, and you get the “flag” trees you see all along the shore: most of the branches on the landward side and a permanent lean away from the water.
• Freeze-thaw on roots and soil. The shore goes through repeated freezing and thawing through the winter. Soil heaves, water moves, and a root plate (the disc of roots and soil at the base of the trunk) that was tight in September can loosen by March.
• Spray ice. Trees close to the waterline get coated when onshore wind throws spray in freezing weather. It is heavy and it sits on one side.
• Thin or loose soil. Dune sand shifts. Clay bluffs slump when wet. Shallow soil over bedrock on the Bruce and along Georgian Bay gives roots nowhere to go but sideways.

For the bigger picture on where the lake-effect bands fall and why Grey-Bruce and the Collingwood side get the snow they do, see our post on the Ontario snow belt.

Which shoreline trees need the hardest look?

Every property is different, and we are not going to put a number on how likely any tree is to fail. What we can tell you is where we slow down on a shoreline walk-around, and why:

• Tall white pine and spruce on a bluff edge. Big sail, high centre of gravity, and often less soil under them than it looks like from the top. These tend to lean or uproot rather than just shed limbs.
• Cedar hedges and windbreaks. Cedar foliage holds wet snow, and a whole row carries the load together.
• Poplar, aspen and birch near a deck or roof. Fast-growing, brittle and short-lived, and often hollow at the fork long before they look it.
• Willows at the waterline. Shallow-rooted and quick to shed branches in wind. Lovely in August, messy in February.
• Any tree within its own height of the building. If it fell toward the cottage, would it reach? That is the simple test we apply to every tree on the lot.
• Anything near the hydro drop. The service wire from the pole to the cottage runs through or beside trees on many lots. Work near that wire belongs to Hydro One or your local utility, never to us.

Here is how each situation plays out over a winter, and what we do about it.

Shoreline situation	What winter wind does to it	What we look at and do
Tall pines on a bluff edge	Full-strength onshore wind on a big sail; freeze-thaw loosens a shallow root plate; new lean or uprooting	Check for lean that is new since spring, soil cracks or lifted ground on the upwind side; photograph and date; flag for a certified arborist
Cedar windbreak	Wet lake-effect snow and spray ice pack into the foliage; rows bend, split or lie down	Trim deadwood and broken tops reachable from the ground or a ladder; note bent or split sections; recommend arborist for larger rows
Poplar or birch near the deck	Brittle limbs snap in gusts; hollow forks fail; debris lands on the deck and railings	Look for cracks, weak forks and dead limbs over the deck; cut back what is reachable; document anything large for an arborist
Trees over the hydro drop	Limbs sag under snow onto the service wire; broken limbs can bring it down	Photograph and record the location; advise you to contact Hydro One or the local utility; we do not touch anything near the wire
Dune or thin-soil trees	Loose or shallow ground lets roots shift in freeze-thaw; lean develops gradually	Compare against the fall walk-around photos (and your own spring photos if you have them); note heave, root-plate lift or exposed roots; recommend arborist assessment if lean has changed
Limbs over the roofline	Limbs scrape shingles, drop onto the roof, and dump debris into valleys and gutters	Cut back limbs touching or overhanging the roof where it can be done safely from a ladder; clear debris; note the rest for an arborist

What should the fall walk-around cover before closing?

This is the most useful look at your trees all year, because it is the last one before the wind goes to work. Here is how we walk the lot, and how you can walk it yourself:

1. Shoreline side first, then the building side. The lake side shows you what the wind sees. The building side shows you what the wind will hit.
2. Lean that is new since spring. Compare against photos from opening weekend if you have them. A tree that has always leaned is one thing; a tree that leans more than it did in May is another.
3. The forks. Cracks, splits and included bark (where two stems grow tight together with bark trapped between them instead of a solid union) are the weak points that let go in a gust.
4. Over the roof and the paths. Deadwood over shingles, the deck, the stairs to the water and the driveway goes on the list.
5. The ground on the upwind side. Root-plate lift, soil cracks in a half-circle around the trunk, or freshly exposed roots on the lake side are signs the tree has already started to move.
6. Anything touching the roof or the power drop. Limbs resting on shingles wear them down and feed debris into the valleys. Limbs on the service wire are a call to the utility.
7. Photograph and date everything. We do this on every visit, and we suggest you do the same. It is the only way to know in January whether a lean is new.
8. Trim what can be done safely from the ground or a ladder. Deadwood, limbs over the roofline, small branches on the deck side. That is the scope of our tree and shrub work.
9. Write down what needs a certified arborist. Big pines, anything with a changed lean, anything that would need climbing or felling. We document it and hand you the list.
10. Check before removing anything. Shoreline tree removal may need municipal or conservation-authority permission in some places. Check with your municipality or conservation authority before a tree comes down.

Our fall tree prep guide walks through the general closing-season trim for any cottage lot. For why the limbs directly above the shingles are the first to cut back, see our post on snow-loaded branches over rooflines.

What does a winter visit check after the wind?

Once the cottage is closed, the wind keeps working and nobody is watching. Between visits it snaps hangers loose, drops limbs on the roof, strips needles and bark into the valleys, and works at any root plate that was already loose. On the tree side, here is what we look for when we arrive:

• Hangers. Broken limbs caught in the canopy, waiting for the next gust to drop them on the roof, the deck or whoever walks under. We note them, clear what can be reached safely, and flag the rest.
• Limbs on the roof. We walk the full perimeter and look at every slope we can see.
• Debris in valleys and gutters. Needles, twigs and bark dam the meltwater that should be running off, which is one of the ways ice dams get started. We clear what we can reach and photograph the rest.
• New lean or heave. Compared against the fall photos.
• Damage to soffit, shingles, railings and the deck. A limb that has already fallen and slid off leaves marks. We look for them.
• Trees across the driveway. If we cannot get in, that goes in the report before anything else, with photos.

After a known wind event, an extra visit is the sensible call rather than waiting for the next scheduled one. Our post on what to do after a windstorm hits the trees covers how that visit runs. Beyond the trees, what we check on a winter cottage visit covers the rest of the walk, and how often an exposed shore lot should get one.

Should the trees between the cottage and the lake come down?

Here is the honest trade-off. Those same shoreline trees that worry you in a west wind are also the reason the cottage is not taking the full blast of spray and snow on its siding and windows. A row of cedar between a west-facing deck and the water is doing a job even when it looks ragged. Clear it all and you may find the deck, the glass and the shingles wearing faster than they did. So the question is never “remove the trees.” It is “which limbs and which trees are a problem,” and for anything big, that is a certified arborist’s call, not ours and not something to decide from a photo. We trim what can be done from the ground, document the rest, and point you to the right people.

Huron shore, Bruce Peninsula or Georgian Bay: what changes for your trees?

Huron shore, Southampton to Grand Bend. West-facing, with sand dunes and clay bluffs along much of it and Lake Huron’s open water in front. Dune cottages have the loose-soil problem; bluff cottages have the tall-pine-on-the-edge problem. Lots around Saugeen Shores, Goderich and Grand Bend take the wind straight on, and a dune lot shows wind-shifted sand around the roots long before anything else moves.

Bruce Peninsula. Rock and thin soil, exposed on both sides, with Lake Huron to the west and Georgian Bay to the east. Trees here are often rooted in cracks and pockets, and they show it. Around South Bruce Peninsula, cedar and pine on bare rock are the common sight, and lean is common; the job is spotting the lean that changed.

Georgian Bay, Collingwood to Meaford and Thornbury. Rocky shore with shallow soil over bedrock in places, and squarely under the lake-effect bands that come off the bay. Collingwood-area lots get the wet, heavy snow that loads cedar and spruce from one side. Spray ice near the waterline is part of a hard winter here.

Who handles the fall trim and the winter visits?

We do two things on shoreline trees, and we keep both inside what can be done safely without climbing or felling.

Before closing, our tree and shrub care visit does the walk-around and the ground-level trim described above, and leaves you the written list of what needs a certified arborist or a call to the utility.

Through the winter, our cottage inspections include the tree checks above on every visit, photographed, dated and reported. If a big blow comes through, you can add a visit on top of the regular schedule and we will walk the lot and send you the photos.

Call 519-783-1575, answered seven days a week, and we will give you a clear quote up front.