I was curious if this was really lighting related since it seemed odd to me that there was absolutely no signs of fire or a burned area due to a lighting strike I forwarded this pic and the previous pic to the Mogollon Rim Ranger District and here is the reply: "That most definitely is a lightning strike. When the tree is green and the atmosphere is wet they often splinter out like this one did when it is hit by a STRONG bolt of lightning. It most likely occurred during a heavy rain storm, the tree was saturated with moisture, therefore no fire. Very rarely do green trees burn unless it is extremely dry, like in June when the forest is crispy dry and we go into campfire/smoking restrictions";