Trout farm damaged from winter storm, “frost quake”

The roof and awning over the trout pond at the Pickett Trout Farm in Sequatchie County. (Courtesy: Pickett Trout Farm)

SEQUATCHIE COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – The aftermath of last week’s winter storm is still being felt by some in our area.

The Pickett Trout Farm and its owner Steve Pickett in Sequatchie County are among those affected.

Pickett raises and sells roughly 30,000 trout each year to local restaurants and vendors. It is only one of two commercial trout farmers in Tennessee.

He has a 200-by-15-foot trout pond he raises the fish in, next to a creek that flows out of a nearby cave.

There used to be a metal roof and awnings on the side to protect the trout from potential predators, such as otters and birds.

However, that all changed during the winter storm last week.

Pickett said, “So, I can tell at exactly 3:20 Tuesday morning, because the whole thing sounded like an explosion, my roof fell completely at once, which was crazy. And it really didn’t come apart, the whole thing just separated and fell.”

What made the occurrence odd was what was heard and seen with the roof collapse.

One of the lines in the snow seen in Sequatchie County. (Courtesy: Pickett Trout Farm)

Pickett said, “Some family members and friends had lines appear in their snow, it was just straight lines, not caused by anything anybody can tell. There was one right down here through this field and one two miles up the road.”

He says that the lines that appeared he along with family and friends believe was the result of a rare phenomenon.

Pickett said, “The whole thing makes sense considering the evidence of a frost quake, which I knew nothing about.”

According to the Maine Geological Survey, a frost quake, scientifically called a cryoseism, is caused by sudden deep freezing of the ground.

It can produce ground shaking and noises similar to an earthquake, but usually on a far smaller scale.

There is not much data due to the rarity and relative lack of effects of this phenomenon, but Pickett says he will be feeling the effects for a while.

Pickett said, “It set me back at least two weeks, in fact this was the week I was going to start restaurant sales which I build up to slowly as get my fish ready to go which is a pound.”

Thankfully, he only lost a handful of fish and will be able to rebuild the protection for the trout.

Pickett said, “I was very relieved that it didn’t crush thousands of fish.”