Hanging Broken Limbs After a Storm: Why Hangers Are Deadly

Broken limbs hung up in a canopy after a storm, often called hangers or widowmakers, can drop without warning. Here is the risk and how pros remove them.

After a storm passes, the obvious damage is on the ground: a tree across the driveway, limbs on the lawn. The damage that worries arborists most is often still up in the air. Broken limbs that snapped off but got caught in the canopy are called hangers, and in the tree industry the worst of them have a blunt nickname: widowmakers. They can look stable for hours or days and then drop without warning.

What a Hanger Is

A hanger is any broken branch or top that is lodged in a tree instead of falling to the ground. It might be:

• Wedged in a crotch between two limbs

• Draped over a lower branch

• Still partially attached to the tree by a strip of torn wood or bark

• Caught in a neighboring tree's canopy

Hangers are common after high winds, heavy wet snow, and ice storms, when many limbs break at once and tangle on their way down.

Why Hangers Are So Dangerous

They Are Unstable

A hanging limb is held in place by friction and balance, not by anything solid. A light breeze, a squirrel, rain adding weight, or vibration from someone cutting nearby can be enough to shift it.

They Fall Fast and Heavy

Even a modest limb falling from high in the canopy hits with serious force. Hard hats are not designed for that kind of impact.

They Are Hard to See

Hangers often sit high in dense foliage. From the ground, you may see only part of the limb, and it is difficult to judge how much weight is up there or what is holding it.

Storm Cleanup Puts People Underneath

The most common way people get hurt is simple: they go outside to rake, cut up fallen branches, or check on the house, and they work directly under a limb they never noticed.

What to Do If You See One

• Do not walk, park, or work under it. Mark off the area with tape, chairs, or cones and keep kids and pets away.

• Look up before you clean up. Scan the canopy of every tree near your work area before you start picking up debris.

• Do not try to pull it down. Throwing ropes, shaking the tree, or using a pole saw puts you directly in the drop zone.