Best Place to Live for Tornadoes

[STurner]

I would also have to go with Kansas as well. Kansas has had the most(17) F5/EF5 tornadoes officially and unofficially since 1880. I would also say the I-35 corridor from Wichita through all of Oklahoma and most of Texas is probably a very good spot.

 

[Karla Dorman]

Live in North Central Texas, not too shabby when it comes to tornadoes. Only thing I mind is having no underground shelter when one comes near. Teeny tiny claustrophobic-sized half baths do not bring me comfort. LOL If I ever get rich, going to have a saferoom built inside a basement. LOL

 

[Laura Dragoo]

Hi Karla! We had a storm shelter built in our new home. It gives a sense of security let me tell you. Not that expensive (1,800.00) and they don't have to be in the basement either.

 

[Scott Taylor]

Somewhere in eastern CO would do it for me... close to the Denver area. You can reach many 'hot spots' from there for an afternoon chase, and the area is just plain beautiful. Then you're also in a perfect location for late season shows as well, from beautiful LP storms to landspouts.

 

[mikegeukes]

If I could somehow convince my father to move, which I am his caretaker 24/7,
I would leave Michigan and move to Hastings, Lincoln or Omaha, Nebraska.
You have Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa to chase. Those 3 states are good
enough for me for chasing. Still working on convincing my father to move.

Would I move back to Norman, Oklahoma, probably not. I just did not
feel comfortable there and was treated as a outsider. Nothing against
the folks in Norman area.

 

[Stephen Levine]

Miami (along with 7 other Florida cities) is a better place to live if you want tornadoes than even OKC... Check the list!

Texas is about the same as Ohio too. And Idaho is making moves to be the next hotbed...

http://arkansasmatters.com/content/f...ews?cid=186771

Hmmm.

Notice that the article specified the most prone areas during the month of February. That would mean that many of those tornadoes would be dangerous night time, and/or rain wrapped.

 

[Karla Dorman]

Laura Dragoo says,

Hi, Karla! We had a storm shelter built into our new home. It gives a sense of security let me tell you. Not that expensive (1,800.00) and they don't have to be in the basement either

Good. Got any room? LOL Live in government apartments. They just renovated last year. Tried like double h e hockey sticks to get them to put in an underground shelter or a saferoom at least, nothing doing. Guess we're expendable. Can't afford to move or I would!!!!

 

[Jason Harris]

good point from Stephen Levine:
--
Notice that the article specified the most prone areas during the month of February. That would mean that many of those tornadoes would be dangerous night time, and/or rain wrapped.
--
Just looking today at the tornado warning drill for Eastern FL and note this distinction:
MOST OF OUR TORNADOES OCCUR DURING THE WET SEASON WHICH
TYPICALLY RUNS FROM LATE MAY THROUGH MID OCTOBER. THESE TORNADOES
ARE USUALLY SMALL AND BRIEF RESULTING IN LITTLE PROPERTY DAMAGE AND
ARE NOT A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO LIFE.

HOWEVER, LARGE LONG-TRACK AND DEADLY TORNADOES HAVE OCCURRED IN EAST
CENTRAL FLORIDA DURING THE DRY SEASON. THE DEADLIEST TORNADO
OUTBREAK IN FLORIDA`S HISTORY OCCURRED THE NIGHT OF FEBRUARY 22,
1998 WHEN SEVERAL LARGE TORNADOES SWEPT ACROSS CENTRAL FLORIDA
KILLING 42 PEOPLE...DESTROYING 700 STRUCTURES AND CAUSING AN
ESTIMATED 100 MILLION DOLLARS DAMAGE. THREE OF THE TORNADOES WERE
RATED EF-3 INTENSITY WHILE ANOTHER 2 TORNADOES WERE RATED AS EF-2.
THEN...IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF FEBRUARY 2, 2007, A SUPERCELL
THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED TWO EF-3 TORNADOES OVER NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY
KILLING 21 PEOPLE.

NOT ONLY DID THESE DEADLY TORNADIC EVENTS OCCUR IN FEBRUARY AND IN
THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, BUT ALSO DURING AN EL NINO. RESEARCH SHOWS
THAT THE THREAT FOR LARGE DEADLY TORNADOES IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA
INCREASES DURING EL NINO YEARS.
--
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=PNSMLB&max=10

 

[Adam Adkins]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to add.

I believe Goddard, Kansas is the best place to live as a storm chaser. It is just west is Wichita. Enough that it is a rural area but within 10 minutes of Wichita itself and all its amenities. You could easily commute even. Goddard also holds the record for the largest hailstone in Kansas, at 7.75 inches in diameter. I also think there is no better location for driving to chase than that area, as it is very close to Oklahoma and the rest of Kansas. Also if you enjoy lightning you really can't go wrong here. And it is in the area of the highest frequency of SPC tornado watches and severe thunderstorm watches. Goddard, KS seems to be the perfect spot!

 

[Shane Adams]

Goddard, KS seems to be the perfect spot!

It's perfect because you believe it is, and that's all you need. Basing this choice on climatology, wait a few years. Things will change.

I envy every chaser who lives north of the Red River. I hate DFW anyway, but especially as a chase base. It's too far south and there's not enough reliable local events to justify it. The only "hot spot" we inherited when we moved here was northwest TX, which really hasn't done anything since. The place we moved from, Norman, OK, was a virtual dead zone for severe weather the 15 years I was there. Since we moved three years ago, there's been at least one tornado in the city limits every year.

So it's really just random luck, but IMO DFW is a horrid place year to year. It is simply too far south.

 

[Adam Adkins]

Basing this choice on climatology, wait a few years. Things will change.

I know that the patterns change, so I tried my best to look at storm report locations for every decade from 1950 with the SPC severe weather database. The wichita area, and especially just west of Wichita was either in or surrounded by "hot spots" for those decades. It was overall fairly consistent. I have never been there myself, but from the data I am looking at it seems hard to miss in Goddard!

This is what I use.

 

[STexan]

It's the anomalies that invariably make significant impacts on tornado storm occurrences and these are hard to account for. I'm more driven by the "geographic setting" (visible horizon and storm structures) then the "tornado occurrence frequency". Even if Mississippi became the new "tornado ally", I'd still prefer to focus on the plains systems.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

In my opinion, I'd rather not live IN a hot spot, but rather near it. I'd hate to have to worry about hailstones ripping my roof apart and getting hit by a tornado every single year.

I like where I'm at here. There's been several anomalies in terms of tornadoes up here (such as the 4/20/2010 Bushland tornado that occured in lower 50 dews and very minimal shear). The road networks sucks in some spots, but most of it is great. Trees are minimal, and so are hills for the most part. You get plenty of NW flow action, and upslope flow. There's of course bad years, (the past 2 years have been terrible) but then you can have years like 2007 and 2010, where you never had to go 2 hours from home to score tornadoes. The Fall season usually brings photogenic lines of storms that gust out once they reach the TX/NM border, providing amazing shelf clouds.

The only other place I'd probably choose to live is North Platte, NE for its proximity to the northern plains and CO/WY.

 

[Terrence Cook]

Marcus makes a valid point here, my goal has been to place myself in the middle of it all with a decent road network and the visibility that we all drool over. Central KS has been that diamond in the rough for me, specifically Hoisington and Lyons KS have been my home the past 2 seasons. I usually spend about 6 months out there and love most everything about it (I grew up in the country, i prefer minimal population density) and the night skys are too die for!!

To make this comment relevant I wanted to note that on April 14th, 2012 I had to evacuate my family from Lyons on two different occasions while I was on storms elsewhere... the Langley Wedge touched down 6 MILES FROM MY ****** HOUSE!!! and then we had the EPIC night time storm roll through that produced a large tornado only 15 miles SW of Lyons.

So, that has stuck with me as I consider where to set-up for this year... logic says West of the Dryline stomping grounds keeps you less active as the TX PH folks have suggested. I will probably aim for Dodge City to Hays line for these reasons but I am in consideration.

 

[STexan]

Makes no difference where you "set up shop" ... #9 of the 20 Universal Truths ... "The major twister producers will always occur 100 miles out of your travel comfort zone, and if you do travel long, the hot spot will end up in your back yard while you're away"