A couple of weeks ago, a monstrous oak tree – estimated to have lived around 150 years – ripped free of the ground near where I live in Virginia and crashed down. My local paper, The News-Gazette, reported the reason it fell: “An enormous oak tree at Boxerwood Gardens toppled on Feb. 16 due to high winds and saturated soil.” 

The oak was mighty and gnarled from age, but its roots weren’t capable of keeping it upright during a windstorm. The packed soil had turned to mud, and a fierce gale...