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 The primary reasons I moved back to Oklahoma are no longer applicable.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.

 

[John Farley]

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.

Just wondering, Ben, are you complaining that Lansing only hit 90 twice? That was one thing I loved when I lived there.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Yes - I like a warmer summer. I definitely have gotten that down here. That being said, 2011 and 2012 almost made me rethink after about week 8 of 100 degrees every day. We definitely have some hot days each summer and drought issues, but you don't have to shovel 105º. I think more than only hitting 90 twice in 2009, there was a lot of 50s and 60s and rainy days. That makes outdoors activity less desirable for me.

 

[John Farley]

Yes - I like a warmer summer. I definitely have gotten that down here. That being said, 2011 and 2012 almost made me rethink after about week 8 of 100 degrees every day. We definitely have some hot days each summer and drought issues, but you don't have to shovel 105º. I think more than only hitting 90 twice in 2009, there was a lot of 50s and 60s and rainy days. That makes outdoors activity less desirable for me.

To each their own, I guess. I hate hot weather, and anything over 80 makes outdoor activity less desirable for me. And I am a skier, so I don't mind some shoveling if it means I can ski. Can't imagine 8 weeks of 100 every day. Six weeks of 90+ when I lived in the St. Louis area was way too much for me! (Sorry, Dan.)

Temperature preferences are definitely one more element in choosing a place to live, and a pretty big one for a lot of people. And if you pick the wrong place, you could have a lot more days with temperatures you don't like than you have chase days, which I guess was kind of your original point, Ben.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Yep, definitely different strokes for different folks. I definitely would not recommend other chasers live south of I-70 in the plains if they do not like hot weather. Even north of 70 in NE/SD and parts of ND gets pretty hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. Anyway, at some point in the summer of 2011 I realized it was still like 96º or 97º at 10pm and started having second thoughts. That has been far from the norm since then, but we definitely have some hot ones. I would not live here without air conditioning nor if I had a physically intensive outdoor job.

The weather outside of storm season is generally quite boring here in Central Oklahoma. A lot of sunshine and not much else for most of the year. That's another positive (for me) of Oklahoma vs Michigan - The winter permacloud from Lake Michigan is depressing. Our winters in OK are mild, but not always snow-free.

Skiing is a blast, I will concede that to you John. I have not gone snow skiing since I flew to Finland and went and deranged my knee and had to fly home in extreme pain. Next time I ski will likely be up in your neck of the woods somewhere, it's just not something that would be important enough to me to live in Colorado. It'd be a trip up, much like a lot of folks do for chase vacations. I've been working in tech my whole career and have been fortunate enough to have plenty of paid time off, so this setup works best to optimize my time doing fun things and still being able to chase mostly when I want.

I'm not sure there's a perfect place to live for aspiring chasers the more I think about it. OKC Metro and Wichita metro would work for a lot. I think Russell Kansas would be the most central location if you were independently wealthy and could just base somewhere and chase all season. DFW or KC Metro would be best for job opportunities.

 

[Jane Herbert]

We (as Aussies) bought a house in Hillsboro KS so we had a base when we were here for up to 6 months a year. Was the best ever investment and very convenient for chasing especially when a few days between outbreaks. Had it for 11 years till Clyve had to have blood tests at home every 3 months and wasn’t worth keeping.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Following John and Ben in the expanded line of discussion around temperature (and other weather-related) preferences - I’m more in John’s camp of not liking hot weather. I find it ironic that so many people look forward to summer and then find themselves inside most of the day anyway because it’s too damn hot outside. That’s the case in my hometown near Philadelphia, where my backyard is in full sun and we can’t comfortably go outside and sit on the deck in the summer until after 6pm when the sun goes below the tree line.

My favorite temperatures are the mid 60s like we get here in early October. I don’t like extreme cold, but at least you can enjoy cozying up inside, especially when the days grow short; staying inside because it’s too hot doesn’t have that same feel. Come November through the winter, I don’t mind gray or rainy days. They add to that cozy feeling of hunkering down indoors, and it makes me feel better about working as much as I do, because I don’t feel like I’m missing anything; there’s not much else to be doing outdoors.

I do like the change of seasons, and come to think of it this area has a pretty good variety of weather - not the best of anything, but a little bit of everything - thunderstorms, nor’easters, big snowstorms, tropical storms, a mix of sun, clouds, rain, etc. I don’t know how people can stand living in places like Southern California where it’s sunny and in the 70s every day, with barely any rain.

I don’t know how my wife and I are going to resolve our different preferences when we decide where to live in retirement. She wants the classic “move to Florida,” which does not interest me, despite it being great for lightning and hurricanes. I see myself more in New England, with four seasons, cooler temps and a rustic wintertime feel with big snowstorms. Notice even in retirement I don’t fantasize about moving to Tornado Alley. I’ll spend big chunks of the severe weather season there, sure, but as I noted above it’s just not worth being there all year for the relatively small percentage of days that provide chasing opportunities.

 

[Brett Roberts]

I pretty much loathe everything about winter. The darkness, the cloud cover, the cold, the increased prevalence of sickness, the absence of chaseable convection anywhere in chase country... all of it is beyond redemption in my book. What's funny is that I spent the latter part of my childhood on the east coast, and I was big into nor'easters then. But since moving to OK for college long ago, that has completely flipped.

It's easy for anyone with our disposition to get excited about whatever "extreme" weather affects our location regularly, I suppose. But the actual experience of seeing supercells and tornadoes so thoroughly demolishes the experience of watching snow pile up out the window at home that it's hard to understand what I was even thinking now. My arc as a weather geek makes me think there's a fundamental distinction between two types of weather enthusiasm: one involves a kind of voyeuristic excitement over the hype, adrenaline, human impacts, and sheer public attention something like an I-95 nor'easter (or even a landfalling hurricane, if I'm allowed to go there) gets; but a totally different breed is what we indulge in standing in front of a sculpted supercell 50 miles NW of Garden City that no one else in the world cares about. I only really knew #1 during my adolescence, but once I discovered #2 later on, it made everything else far less interesting.

Anyway, I still get mildly interested in our very occasional (and usually disappointing) winter storms, especially if they offer good photo ops. But 90% of winter in places like OK/KS is irredeemable dry, windy cold, with a brown and barren landscape as far as the eye can see. Our summers are considered brutal by many people's standards, but they just don't bother me in the same way at all. I will take 105 F with long days and at least an opportunity for storms somewhere within 3 states over even a cooler autumn day with highs around 50 without a second of thought. There are downsides to heat, obviously, but it doesn't make me depressed and want to scheme out how I can avoid leaving the house for days at a time.

Back to the original topic: given everything I just said, and my interest in nature and hiking outside chase season, I think I'd hilariously do the exact opposite of the thread title if I hit the jackpot. I'd love to be somewhere warm/mild and sunny in CA or AZ for most of the year, but spend April-June out here during active periods. If it was a huge jackpot maybe I'd spend summer someplace like CO, MT, or WA, but that would really be gravy.

 

[Todd Lemery]

Now that I’ve got over a couple of years experience moving to a more storm friendly area, I can share a couple of thoughts. I moved to Bentonville AR and had never before had to give much thought to being impacted personally by a tornado. Two tornadoes this year fairly close to our home makes me realize that the thought of losing your home or worse to a tornado is real. That being said, I can’t think of any other negatives to my wife’s and I relocation.

If you aren’t really active with winter stuff in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the 5 months of hard winter can really wear on you. We didn’t pick our location just for the storm chasing, but I can’t deny that not having to plan a chase a week ahead of time and knocking the go or no go time to a few hours is huge. It might not be worth it to move to the center of the country from the coasts, but moving from the upper Midwest is gold.

 

[James Wilson]

I had been thinking about relocating since I am in Kansas City and I almost always head west to chase. KC does have good interstates in all directions but living here adds hours to most chases as I rarely go east. I made the below showing close and long chases with the dots representing the appropriate middle location. I decided Salina might be the best option where roads are good out of there. Now if Iowa keeps killing it I may rethink that lol. I do have RV plans down the road (pun intended) so location would be moving.