Can vertical cracks in a tree cause it to barber chair while cutting down?

[SCMtnHaul]

I saw this scenario for the first time last year. We had a wicked wind storm come through and about 8 days later we were working near a 160' Doug Fir that just all of a sudden started cracking vertically. The local power company, PG&E, had trucks nearby so everything got shutdown and moved away until their contract arborist crew could arrive. Sure enough they sent out their best feller and he wrapped a couple straps tightly, made a couple slight cuts on the sides and dropped it perfectly in a landing area only 7 feet wide. It\s always fun to watch a real pro in action. The guess is that the extreme wind caused the tree to twist which resulted in the sudden vertical cracking.