Is there's a big broken branch hung up in my tree an emergency?
Call tonight. The branch is no longer attached to anything structural — it is resting on whatever caught it, held by friction and the shape of a fork rather than by wood fiber. That is what makes this one different from everything else on this list: there is no gradual decline, no symptom to monitor, and no reliable relationship between wind and when it comes down. A hanger can sit motionless for a week and release on a still morning simply because the leaves dried out and the balance changed. The trade name for it is a widowmaker, and that is not a figure of speech.
What changes while you wait
Assume it can fall within the hour and behave accordingly — that is the correct posture, and this is one of the few items on this list where a same-day call is genuinely justified rather than upsold. The variable is not time, it is what sits underneath. Over a driveway, a walkway, a deck, a play set, a parked car, or anywhere people or pets pass, this is a stop-what-you-are-doing item. Over open ground at the back of a lot that nobody crosses, it is a few days. Rope off the area under it and well beyond it, because a falling limb glances off lower branches and does not land straight down. Do not try to pull it free with a rope from below, do not throw things at it, and do not put a ladder into that tree.
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