Relocating for storm chasing

[Drew Terril]

Ironically, since the last time I posted in this thread, I left Oklahoma to move to Indiana. I was never in a position living in Oklahoma to "chase everything." When I had a job that allowed me flexibility to chase, I was too broke to take advantage of it. Then, when I did have money, I didn't have the flexibility. To earn that income, I had to be on the road quite a bit, so I took an opportunity where I'm now home every night and I can have something resembling a life. The primary reasons I moved back to Oklahoma are no longer applicable. Most of my folks out there are gone now, and while Oklahoma will always be home, I was able to leave on my own terms this time and I'm at a peace that I never would have thought possible.

First year and a half were still rough after I moved to IN, but things have really fallen into place and I'm in the best spot (as far as overall life balance) that I've ever been in. Would I love to chase more? Sure. But at this point, I'm not willing to sacrifice the life balance that I have for the first time in my adult life (I'm 37 now) to make that happen. Between my time in the military (juggling a civilian career for much of that time as well when I was in the Reserves), factory work with a ton of overtime, and then OTR trucking, I burned the candle from both ends from 18 to 35. I never realized how badly I needed some semblance of balance in my life until I actually had it.

 

[JamesCaruso]

In the abstract, it sounds like a great idea to live somewhere that enables more chasing. But it doesn’t hold up to a practical analysis. A surfer living on the ocean can paddle out and catch waves of varying quality most days. A skier living in the mountains near a ski resort can hit the slopes most days in-season. But a storm chaser’s opportunities are few and far between, even in-season. Do the math and figure a very optimistic 5 chase days per week in all of May and June - that’s 40 chase days. Let’s add a very generous 25 more to cover early spring and the summer. I’ll add 5 more for the fall or occasional off-season event. That’s 70 days out of 365 - not quite 20% of the year. And 70 days is a super high-end estimate; I’d say it’s more like 30-50 in most years, or more like 10%-15% of the year. Then the real calculation is what are the *incremental* number of days you can chase by living there, compared to how many you can already chase during chase vacations and/or targeted long-distance trips for shorter periods.

There are of course many other reasons to love living in some of these places. But this thread is about choosing a location specifically for chasing. Sure, all things being equal, why not choose the location that also provides more chasing opportunities? But it’s hard to justify chasing as the primary factor in choosing where to live, as much as I love it and wish I could do it beyond my allotted annual chase vacation. When I was younger, I wished I lived on the Plains and felt trapped in being unable to. But I came to realize it was just a fantasy without a ton of realistic utility, so I would encourage younger chasers not to feel like you “have to” move to enjoy chasing, and to choose a location based on what you’re likely to be doing the 80%+ of the year that you are *not* chasing.

I guess for me it’s what Drew said about not being able to “chase everything.” I simply wouldn’t have the flexibility to drop everything and chase even if I did live out there. Lack of flexibility is what keeps me from heading out for bigger early- or late-season events now, and I doubt it would be much easier if I were out there. When I retire, I’ll be able to do it more easily, or will just stay out there for longer periods. But it will be in-season, not all year.

 

[Bobby Little]

. After spending the last 3 weeks in Michigan, I remembered why I don't want to ever live there again.

Ok Ben so i need to know why this is? Ive lived in Michigan my whole life and would never consider leaving this state, at least full time. As a matter of my facts, I consider Michigan to be a gem of a state of all the U.S. for many reasons except tornado chasing.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

First of all, the public lands go to sleep at 10pm making it hard to see auroras in a state park. I guess you can enjoy your public lands only on the governments terms. I hate winter and the roads and traffic are garbage. Why is I-96 still 2 lanes from Muskegon to Howell? Why isn't I-94 5 lanes in each direction from Detroit to Chicago? I left in the "too big to fail" era depression up there after the summer of 2009 when LAN only hit 90 degrees twice that year - 6/23 and some random day in September. And it's too close to ohio.

With that said, it's hard to beat the West Michigan lakeshore from about June 15 until September 15th and the fishing is definitely great.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The nice thing about the Midwest is that the storm season doesn't end here. I have legit things to chase pretty much year-round, something I didn't see when I lived back east. In WV, we were done with even lightning by September most years, and storms didn't return until April. I do sometimes miss being able to "put away" chasing for the winter like that.

I grew up in the Appalachian mountains where views of the sky were hard to come by. I can appreciate mountains and a cabin-in-the-woods setting, but all of that increasingly felt claustrophobic. The sun rises later and sets earlier because the horizons are higher. Some of the deeper valleys (like in Montgomery where I went to college) only get a few hours of direct sun in a day. I love seeing the big, open sky all the time, taking walks down the road and having a 360-degree low horizon.

I do know of people who lived in the Plains that now love living in the mountains. I guess if you've had one of those most of your life, you might appreciate the other more at some point later.

 

[William Monfredo]

I grew up in the Appalachian mountains where views of the sky were hard to come by...all of that increasingly felt claustrophobic.

I spent too many years in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA and was thrilled to get away from Pennsylvania
(even though Pittsburgh became an attractive location for urban professionals, at least for a while, amidst much gentrification.)
I have no compelling reason to go back that way; I left near my 27th b-day and have never looked back, for many of the reasons you mentioned.