Best Place to Live for Tornadoes

[Adam Adkins]

I know what Terrence means, and I understand, but for me, besides having a wedge tornado decimate my living situation which is about equally likely everywhere in Kansas, all other severe weather events around home would be fun and exciting! Yes maybe Goddard, KS is around the epicenter of the most frequent severe weather in Kansas, but that's what I want. I know the risks, but it is exciting! When I am older and have a family and so on and so forth maybe that opinion will change, but right now I want to live as close to the chase as possible.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Interesting reading the old replies on this thread. Since I last posted in it, I undertook considerable research on moving to the Midwest/Plains - then finally did it. This question is probably being approached from two angles here, hypothetical-for-the-sake-of-discussion or someone seriously considering moving. Purely for discussion, if work/business/money was no issue, any mid-sized town in the central Plains like Pratt, Enid and North Platte would be nice. Even if you were 'set for life' financially, towns smaller than those are really not as livable as one might think, despite cheap real estate (2+ hour rounds trips for everyday errands, etc). Realistically, being near or in a big city (KC, Omaha, Denver, Wichita, OKC, Dallas, Lubbock/Amarillo, STL etc) is the only practical option for most. Outside of those major cities, most people would have a real problem finding decent work that pays you enough to support chasing.

Personally, I picked the Midwest over the Plains due to the fact that I can still go on Plains trips in the spring, then see tornadoes at home the rest of the year without having to go far.

 

[Brett Roberts]

An interesting question with limitless, equally-valid answers.

If one simply wanted to minimize the driving time to all good Plains chase areas, I'd lean toward something like North Platte or Kearney. On the other hand, even though the entire strip from ND to TX has potential for killer chase days any given year, all sub-regions are not created equal in this game.

Even as a structure fanatic and someone who prefers late-season, high-CAPE days, I don't think I could justify living much north of I-70, all things considered. The average number of solid setups per year starts dropping off way too fast, especially north of I-80. Even though TX/OK/KS are more crowded and have more terrain issues than NE/SD/ND, the longer season and higher potential for 10-15 solid chases/year would make me hedge south, even if I were set for life. To be honest, I kind of enjoy making one or two multi-day marathon trips up north in June when the days are long and the landscape is in full bloom; it feels like a vacation. If I were starting in Omaha or North Platte for an iffy, high-shear Panhandle setup in March and facing winter storm warnings on the way back, I doubt that would be the case.

I'm thinking Dodge, Pratt, and Woodward would be my top candidates, even though I'd go crazy actually living in any of those full-time. I'm pretty darn happy starting in Norman/OKC in the grand scheme of things, and while it's farther east than ideal, at least we're usually following the storms home longitudinally!

 

[Adam Adkins]

One thing I'm always thinking about too is the rest of the year. Sure you've got spring and summer of great weather (severe weather), but then you're stuck where you're stuck for 7 months of the year. I for one am always thinking about that. I live near Denver, CO right now and it would be pretty hard to give up skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, spectacular photography in the fall, and climbing mountains and 4wheeling in the summer. Not to mention all the incredible photo-ops year round. Wichita may be better for supercells, but eastern CO has supercells too. Maybe they're not at the caliber of the storms further east very often, but they can still be great. It's a very difficult decision!

 

[Michael Thompson]

I often thought it would be nice to have a chase base in the USA on retirement, so I can live an endless Spring/Summer chasing two hemispheres. In my searching I came up with Great Bend, Kansas as a nice balance of things I want. I hate big cities. I could sell my Aussie home just 2kms from the ocean and buy 3-4 over there. However I do like the beach lifestyle still, so I would not do that. Have 5 years to go until I could retire, may think more on it then.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I did a blog post write-up about a year ago on the subject of the 'second home in the Plains' idea, based on the planning/preparation for my own eventual move. Some of this is relevant to moving full-time: http://stormhighway.com/blog2011/dec1911a.shtml

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Keep in mind that this will be a highly seasonal and variable choice of living (if ONLY based on tornadoes).

For Kansas, Wichita would be a good choice due to so many road / interstate options in and out of that city (I-35 corridor, east routes west, close to OK 'major' areas, etc).

Oklahoma City appears to be the "middle" of the US tornado alley "threat zone" and points a bit west of there, and Wichita, KS being on the N to NE side of that "bullseye".

 

[Danny Neal]

I would argue Salina area would be the best area to live in. You are basically 8 hours from any target (South Dakota, Denver, C. IL, C OK/T PH).

 

[Joshua Nall]

One thing I'm always thinking about too is the rest of the year. Sure you've got spring and summer of great weather (severe weather), but then you're stuck where you're stuck for 7 months of the year. I for one am always thinking about that. I live near Denver, CO right now and it would be pretty hard to give up skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, spectacular photography in the fall, and climbing mountains and 4wheeling in the summer. Not to mention all the incredible photo-ops year round. Wichita may be better for supercells, but eastern CO has supercells too. Maybe they're not at the caliber of the storms further east very often, but they can still be great. It's a very difficult decision!

I think eastern Colorado would be a great place to live, especially if you are interested in other adventuresome outdoor activities, Elk Hunting for example But I wouldn't like the idea of moving further away from home tagging along with the storms. Northeast Ok, would probably be the best place for me personally as there is some interesting terrain, and lakes to the South, and it wouldn't be that hard to drive over to E AR for some setups here. SW AR is where I am though and I have reasons to stay.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

Earlier this year I moved to Wyoming from Oklahoma thinking I could enjoy the mountains and still get plenty of chases in the latter part of spring in Neb and SD each year. A couple of months later I had the opportunity to move back to Oklahoma and thought long and hard about it, and part of the equation was real opportunities to chase. My job in Oklahoma provided much more access to chases than the one up north, due to more time off and of course the proximity allowed for greater opportunities to chase. If I stayed Wyoming I still had chase opportunities, but the job didn't give me the flexibility to actually get out and chase unless they happened to be weekend chases. So, for me it wasn't just region, but time availability.

 

[Adam Adkins]

HERE is a very telling map of storm reports from central tornado alley. It is from 1950-2011 and shows all tornadoes EF3 and stronger, and all hail reports of baseball size and larger. Significant hail is very consistent all the way through northeast CO, and it appears that tornadoes are more often long tracked further east while more significant tornadoes OCCUR NEARLY AS OFTEN but are shorter lived west from about a North Platte to Dodge City to Woodward line so an area including western NE, KS, OK, the TX panhandle, and northeastern and eastern Colorado. I assume the reason for this is largely due to the more often lower dpts which make stronger longer track tornadoes more difficult. Slightly less shear might also be a factor. The conclusion I draw from all this is that you really can't go wrong wherever you are in this region. Further east you are going to be looking at more less-visibilty, tornado setups, where as further west on the high plains you will be looking more often at higher visibility structural chases, with occasional tornadoes. Also, chasers have told me they believe there have been more significant tornadoes in northeast CO, but they have not been classified as such because it is extremely rural and there are very few roads and structures to measure the damage of the tornadoes. Does anybody else agree with that?

Anyways, those are all my thoughts!

 

[Jane Herbert]

Clyve and I bought our chasebase in Hillsboro, Kansas in 2011 and set it up and moved in early in the 2012 season for all of these stormchasing and travelling reasons. We've been chasing the Plains since 2009, and having a house made the 2012 season a far more pleasant year for us because we didn't have to chase slight risks unless we wanted to...and it's great coming home to your own bed.....

We found that we spent about 60 - 70% of our nights at the house, and driving back one day and driving out the next was always cheaper than staying in a hotel and then driving to the next target. We spent quite a time researching both towns and houses and settled on Hillsboro because we both really like it and the people, found a house that we really liked and it's in a great location.....the town is very safe and everyone is very nice. There are 3 supermarkets, restaurants, a lumber yard, hardware store, gas station, some fast food....pretty much everything you need......

We retire in the next month and will spend more time there in the future......good drives to all of our targets (we're used to driving 500 - 800 miles to chase in Australia), easy access in all directions, lots to explore in the area (Flint Hills etc). We'll maintain our current house in Australia and wander between them following storm season...

 

[Jacob Ferden]

I realize this is geared towards Kansas, but when considering the whole of the Alley, right now the winner has to be Norman, specifically the south side of Norman. After June 12, 2009, May 10, 2010, and April 13, 2012, not to mention the near-miss on May 24, 2011...just grab an apartment , keep your vidcam handy, and make sure to have your valuables insured

 

[ELY M.]

Actually, DFW had good year for tornadoes in early 2012. I saw those youtube videos of flying semi-trailers and pissed off truck drivers.

It is all about luck and randomness. MN had good year in 2010.
in Nov of 2012, MN had four tornadoes hit in twin cities.

as for me, it depends on if I get good job or not.
If I get good job in OK, I will just go to OK.

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.

 

[Timothy Finn]

As a resident of Wichita, KS...it's been a great jump off point. I pulled 8 chases last year, and never drove too terribly far, excepting the one blue sky bust near the SD border. The only thing I wish was closer was the Texas Panhandle, I missed out on some good action last season there, but I probably won't this season.

Wichita's cost of living is pretty low (I live on the golf course for $650 a month), it's got almost everything you need, including decent medical care, and rush hour here lasts 45 minutes, lol.

Tim