VIENNA, Va. – As clouds scudded across the sky and the wind screamed I heard a snap.

The main trunk of a 100-foot ash tree in my backyard split in two and crashed to the ground, crushing a portion of my pool fence -- but, thankfully, missing the deck and house.

It only takes a few seconds of weather drama to create a major mess. In this case, it will also be an expensive one. Brad Dodd, an estimator for Tyson's Tree Service in Merrifield, Va. quoted a price of $1,000 to remove the doomed and broken tree.

Mr. Dodd's phone has been buzzing constantly these past few days, as the severe storm that raced through the Washington, D.C. metro area last week devastated suburban landscapes. A disproportionate number of the leafy victims of the powerful wind gusts were weak-wooded trees like ashes, pines and Bradford pears, he says.

The fallen ash in my backyard

My ash was already a towering specimen when I moved to this property in Vienna, Va., 13 years ago. Any replacement will take years to fill the void it left in the sky. But before I replaced it, I wanted to know what sort of trees are most likely to survive the sort of sudden storms that seem to be occurring more frequently these days. Fortunately, there is plenty of material on just that topic -- as well as on pruning, watering and fertilizing your trees to keep them strong -- on the Web site of the Arbor Day Foundation.

But it's also important to consult local resources like university and county extension sites, because there is no perfect tree appropriate for every climate and landscape. For instance, the University of New Hampshire's extension service says American sweetgums, arborvitae and black walnut are resistant to icy northern storms, while American elms, pin oaks and silver maples are more susceptible. In Florida, the Broward County Education Extension Division says the bald cypress, cabbage and date palms and live oaks stand up well to high winds, but calls the African tulip tree, Australian palm and avocado trees "poor survivors."

While you're looking for a replacement tree, consider buying more than one. Buck Abbey, a landscape professor at Louisiana State University, who has studied the effects of hurricane-force winds on plants, notes that the interknit canopy of a grove of trees tend to ride out high winds better than lone specimens -- especially if they're native varieties with wide, spreading branches, low centers of gravity, small leaves and deep root systems.

And finally, while you're browsing gardening centers, read the tag to see how tall the tree will grow, and how far out its branches will reach. Before you buy, go home and imagine the tree at its full height. Think about at where -- and on what -- it might fall in a storm. Measure if you're uncertain. No matter how carefully you choose your tree, none can survive a tornado or wind-driven "microburst" -- so make sure to plant where it can never fall on your house or your neighbors'. And if such a spot can't be found…buy a shrub instead.

Write to June Fletcher at june.fletcher@wsj.com

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