Is my tree is hollow inside an emergency?
Within weeks. Hollow is not automatically dangerous, and this is where homeowners get oversold more than anywhere else on this list. A tree is a tube, and a tube carries bending load in its outer wall — a hollow stem with a thick continuous shell can be as strong as a solid one. What actually matters is the thickness of remaining sound wall relative to trunk radius, and whether the cavity is closed or has an open slot in the side. An open slot is worse than a sealed hollow of the same size because the tube can no longer resist flattening inward. Neither of those is visible by looking at the hole.
What changes while you wait
A weeks-timeline question: book a measurement, not a crane. Cavities enlarge over years, and a tree that has been hollow the entire time you have owned the house is telling you something reassuring about its rate of change. What changes while you wait is mostly outside the cavity — watch for a vertical crack or a bulging ridge running up from the opening, a fresh pile of wood shavings below the hole, or a limb dying back directly above it. Any of those, or a hollow trunk that develops a new lean, moves this to days.
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