Updated September 24, 2026.

The short answer: hurricane season is not over. The Atlantic season runs June 1 through November 30, and the National Hurricane Center puts the climatological peak at September 10, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October. If you're reading this in the fall, you're still in it. The best structural pruning happens before the season starts, but what you can do now is walk your property, find the trees that worry you, and get them looked at before a storm is in the forecast, when the calls start coming in and careful work is hard to schedule.

If you're reading this during the season

You can't go back and prune in April, but the rest of the list still works. From the ground, on a calm day:

  • Note any tree with dead limbs over the roof, driveway or anywhere people park or walk, and any tree with a recent lean, cracks or lifted soil at the base (details below).
  • Skip the "quick fix" of topping a tree or stripping its inside branches. Both make it weaker in wind, not stronger.
  • Take a few dated photos of your trees as they stand today. If one comes down, you'll have a before picture.
  • Then ask Ryan to look at the ones you're unsure about. Whether a tree needs work now or can wait is easier to judge with someone standing at it.

Why Central Florida trees fail in storms

Most tree failures we see after a hurricane or tropical storm trace back to a handful of causes, and they're rarely random bad luck. A tree with a dense, over-full canopy catches more wind than one that's been thinned properly — think of it like the difference between an open umbrella and a solid sail. When too much of that wind load has nowhere to go, something gives: a limb snaps, or the whole tree goes over at the root ball.

Co-dominant stems are another common culprit. That's when a tree splits into two or more trunks of similar size close to the ground instead of growing one dominant leader, often with a tight, included-bark union between them instead of a strong branch collar. That union is a structural weak point, and under wind load it's a common place for a tree to split down the middle.

Root damage plays a bigger role than most homeowners expect, too. Construction work, grade changes, trenching for utilities, or even repeated soil compaction from vehicles parked under the canopy can all quietly damage a root system years before a storm exposes the problem. A tree can look perfectly healthy above ground while its anchoring below ground is already compromised.

And then there's the damage people cause on purpose, thinking they're helping. Over-lifting a canopy — stripping too many lower and interior limbs to "clean it up" — shifts weight to the outer canopy and makes a tree more top-heavy, not less. UF/IFAS Extension calls this "lion tailing": removing inner branches and leaving tufts of foliage only at the tips, which concentrates weight at the ends of limbs and makes them more prone to snapping in strong wind. Topping is worse: cutting main limbs down to stubs forces a flush of weak, fast-growing sprouts that are poorly attached to the parent limb. Those sprouts grow quickly, but they snap off far more easily than a limb the tree grew naturally. A topped tree isn't storm-proofed — it's a tree that's been made structurally weaker, and it will need more work, sooner, for the rest of its life.

What you can check from the ground, any time of year

You don't need a ladder or any special equipment to catch most of the obvious warning signs. Walk your property on a calm day and look for:

  • A new or worsening lean. A tree that's always leaned slightly is usually fine; a lean that's changed recently, especially with lifted or cracked soil at the base, is a red flag.
  • Dead limbs over a target. Deadwood over the roof, driveway, or anywhere you park or walk is worth having removed before it dries out further and comes down on its own schedule.
  • Mushrooms or conks at the base or trunk. Fungal growth low on the tree can point to root or trunk decay that isn't visible from the outside otherwise.
  • Cracks or splits in the trunk or major limbs. Even a hairline crack at a limb union is worth a second opinion — it's often where a co-dominant split starts.
  • Hanging or broken limbs already caught in the canopy. A limb that broke in a past storm but never fully came down is just waiting on the next gust.

None of these automatically mean a tree has to come down. Most of the time the right answer is targeted pruning, not removal — but it's worth having someone who does this for a living take a look before you decide either way.

What a storm-readiness walkthrough covers

When we walk a property ahead of a storm, we're looking at the whole tree, not just the branches that are easy to see from the ground. That means checking the base and root flare for decay or lifting, looking up into the canopy for deadwood and weak unions, and evaluating overall structure — how the tree is balanced, whether it's been topped or over-lifted in the past, and what kind of pruning would actually reduce risk without just making the tree look "trimmed."

That's the core difference between structural pruning and topping, and it's worth saying plainly: topping a tree to "storm-proof" it is one of the most persistent myths in tree care, and it does the opposite of what people think. Real storm prep is selective thinning of the outer canopy to reduce wind resistance, removing deadwood and crossing limbs, and correcting weak unions where it's still practical — all cuts made at proper points so the tree can seal and stay structurally sound, not hacked back to stubs that regrow weaker every year. UF/IFAS advises thinning the outer edges of the canopy, not the interior, and having your trees evaluated by a professional about every two years.

After the storm

If a tree does come down, safety comes first, every time.

  • Power lines first. Florida Power & Light's storm guidance is to stay far away from downed power lines and from flooded or debris-laden areas that may be hiding them, and to report downed lines or unsafe equipment by calling 911 or FPL. UF/IFAS puts it the same way: assume all power lines are dangerous, and do not touch them. UF/IFAS adds that only qualified line-clearance arborists should work near electrical utilities damaged in a storm, so a tree resting on or tangled in a line is not a do-it-yourself job.
  • Don't trust a tree that's still under tension. A leaning or partly fallen tree may not be stable, and limbs and trunks under tension can release suddenly, even hours or days after the storm passes.
  • Don't cut alone, and stay on the ground. UF/IFAS's cleanup advice is to recruit at least one partner, use a chain saw only while you're standing on the ground, and hand any other work, including anything that involves climbing, to a tree-care professional.
  • Clear debris only where it's safe. FPL asks homeowners to carefully move debris away from utility poles and from under power lines only as long as it is safe to do so. When in doubt, leave it.

Once it's safe, take photos of the damage before anything gets moved or cleaned up — the tree, the debris, and whatever it landed on or near. Those photos matter if you end up filing an insurance claim, since adjusters want to see the damage as it happened, not after cleanup.

From there, call your insurance carrier to start the claims conversation and call us (or another tree service) for the physical cleanup — the two conversations usually need to happen in parallel, not one after the other. See our storm cleanup page for how we work through a job like that, hazards first.

One more thing before you decide a damaged tree has to go: not every storm-damaged tree needs to be removed. UF/IFAS notes that a tree is a poor candidate for restoration if it has cracks in its major limbs or trunk, or if its roots are exposed or lifted out of the soil, and that a tree with only small broken branches can often be pruned and recover. Having someone look at it in person is the way to tell which you have. If it does need to come down, our tree removal page explains how that work goes.

Curious what homeowners insurance actually covers?

We wrote a full breakdown of how Florida homeowners insurance typically treats tree damage and removal, including where it usually does and doesn't respond.

Read: Does Insurance Cover Tree Removal in Florida? →

Frequently asked questions

Does homeowners insurance cover tree removal in Florida?

It depends on the policy and the situation. Generally, if a tree falls on a covered structure like your house, carport, or fence, homeowners insurance responds to the damage and often the removal tied to it. A tree that falls in the yard without hitting anything is usually not covered. Every policy is different, so confirm the specifics with your carrier — we cover this in more depth in our full blog post on the topic.

When should I get my trees checked for hurricane season?

Ideally in late spring, April or May, so any pruning is done before the Atlantic season opens June 1. If the season is already underway, don't wait for the next storm to show up in the forecast: check your trees from the ground now and have any you're unsure about looked at. Once a storm is on the way, tree crews tend to get busy fast.

Is topping a tree a good way to storm-proof it?

No. Topping — cutting main limbs down to stubs — actually makes a tree more dangerous in a storm, not less. It triggers weak, fast regrowth that's poorly attached and prone to snapping in wind. Structural pruning that thins and balances the canopy is the safer approach.

What should I do immediately after a tree falls in a storm?

Stay away from it until you've checked for downed power lines and confirmed nothing is under tension that could snap free. Take photos before anything is moved, then call your insurance carrier and a tree service to talk through emergency cleanup.

How much does a pre-season tree assessment cost?

We don't publish a flat rate because every property is different — tree count, size, and access all factor in. A walkthrough and quote is free, so the easiest way to know is to call or text us and we'll give you a straight answer.

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