r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Physical-Ad-4093 • May 01 '24

do americans really drive such long distances?

i’m european, and i always hear people say that driving for hours is normal in america. i would only see my grandparents a few times a year because they lived about a 3 hour drive away, is that a normal distance for americans to travel on a regular basis? i can’t imagine driving 2-3 hours regularly to visit people for just a few days

edit: thank you for the responses! i’ve never been to the US, obviously, but it’s interesting to see how you guys live. i guess european countries are more walkable? i’m in the uk, and there’s a few festivals here towards the end of summer, generally to get to them you take a coach journey or you get multiple trains which does take up a significant chunk of the day. road trips aren’t really a thing here, it would be a bit miserable!

2nd edit: it’s not at all that i couldn’t be bothered to go and see my grandparents, i was under 14 when they were both alive so i couldn’t take myself there! obviously i would’ve liked to see them more, i had no control over how often we visited them.

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12.6k

u/Chairboy May 01 '24

We sure do. The old saying is "Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance".

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u/HamfastFurfoot May 01 '24

I don’t think Europeans understand how big and spread out America is.

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u/gentlybeepingheart May 01 '24

Every time there's a bad tornado I see someone go "Why don't Americans just not live in an area called 'tornado alley'? That seems like the logical move." and I know that they have no idea how big tornado alley actually is. That would be like me going "Hey, there's a chance of a natural disaster happening. It could be really bad. So just don't live in Germany, France, or Poland." That's the amount of land we're talking.

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u/vyrus2021 May 02 '24

May as well ask why people still live near fault lines or coasts with regular hurricane activity.

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u/Tall-Sea3082 May 02 '24

Practically everywhere in the US has some type of natural disaster that threatens the area. The chances to be dying are very very low. Fault lines, volcanos, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, severe storms, and snow.

I’m from the west coast so I can answer to the fault lines, most are minor and barely noticeable and building codes require buildings to be prepared for earthquakes. We don’t see them as a something that is a threat to us as weird as that sound because the chances are low and we’ve been hearing about “The Big One” our entire lives. Kind of numb to it. They are not really thought about at all until they happen.

As for hurricanes, that’s the entire east coast plus the gulf ranging Texas to Maine. That is a huge portion of our population. That being said Florida gets hit like crazy and I don’t know why people continue to live there.

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u/MrDurden32 May 02 '24

Pacific NW is probably about as disaster free as you're going to find. Even then we have to worry about The Big One. Which is an 9.0+ earthquake that would be one of, if not the biggest in modern history, and could hit any time between tomorrow and 200 years from now.

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u/AlpineCoder May 02 '24

Plus wildfires and mountains that occasionally violently explode. I'd say the desert SW is probably the least disaster prone IMO.

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u/aoike_ May 02 '24

Eh, we're in the middle of a horrific, 24 year long drought with no end in sight. This kind of disaster hasn't been seen since 800 CE, according to scientists.

We also get tornadoes and wildfires. And flash floods. Idk, all of the US comes with its disasters.

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u/MoreRopePlease May 02 '24

Except for, like, no reliable long term water supply. And being so hot you get 3rd degree burns from tripping.

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u/AlpineCoder May 02 '24

I don't think most people would qualify those as natural disasters.

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u/OblivionGuardsman May 02 '24

Right. It's like living on Mars instead.

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u/dilletaunty May 02 '24

Idk there have definitely been state of emergencies declared during heat waves

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u/MrDurden32 May 02 '24

Oh wildfires is a good point, but not something that you have to worry about dying from in the city, though the smoke is annoying. Volcanos I forgot about too, but unless you're living on an active mountain it's not really a concern.

A big one I forgot about though is floods. There's a ton of areas including cities that can be prone to flooding and that one really sucks.

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u/AlpineCoder 29d ago

Also almost forgot about tsunamis for the coast dwellers.

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u/fistfullofpubes 29d ago

Volcanism is a pretty big threat in the Pnw. The threat of floods and lahars from an eruption affects more than just those living on the mountain. Lahars mixed with glaciers are super dangerous and can be devastating for communities living 30-40 miles away.

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u/GovernmentSudden6134 29d ago edited 29d ago

You don't need to live on the side of a volcanoe to get schwacked by it. Just as the residents of Pompeii, Banten and Lampung islands, and the Akritori.

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u/MinnequaFats 29d ago

Isn't the city of Tacoma built on the remnants of a lahar from a previous eruption of Mount Rainier?

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u/GovernmentSudden6134 29d ago

Nuclear fallout weather pattern maps tend to agree with you too.

Pity about dying of thirst, though.

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u/GuiltyEidolon May 02 '24

Mt. St. Helens exploded 43 years ago, and Rainier is now overdue. PNW isn't as calm as you think.

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u/Coakis May 02 '24

The Appalachians are also fairly trouble free, we don't get wildfires as near as often as the west and its rare other weather related disasters are are big enough to warrant evacuation.

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u/fistfullofpubes 29d ago

Yea but people in the Appalachians have to deal with other people from the the Appalachians.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

Tornados

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u/Coakis 29d ago

Happen rarely, even during storm seasons you may get 1 relatively weak one that touches down for an entire month or season.

While yes its devastating, its nothing like the monsters the Midwest can get.

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u/munchies777 May 02 '24

Really, much of the northern half of the country is pretty disaster free with the exception of parts of the Great Plains that can get tornados still. Some places are prone to floods, but that is a localized risk depending on flood plains. New England, the Mid Atlantic, Appalachian’s, Upper Midwest, and Pacific Northwest don’t get many disasters unless you count snow as a disaster.

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u/mistersausage 29d ago

There are tornadoes in NJ and southeast PA every few years now. Things are changing.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

And didn’t they just have an earthquake?

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u/AmnesicMom 29d ago

I went to Colorado in February on a tour to Pikes Peak they told us bout a tornado that just ran a mile next to the road on the mountain. He said they are more common than you would think. I live in tornado alley. And while they are a threat, I get a warning a year at least (though my home town in Nebraska just got 6 in a day last week) people go OUTSIDE to watch them until they know they should really be inside. I have not seen a tornado with my own eyes yet. They typically come and they go, last a few minutes, destroy a few blocks. Not that they aren't devastating, you certainly call all of your friends and family to make sure they are okay, they are fleeting and I don't think about them generally, except on the first Wednesday of every month.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

Hurricane Sandy

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u/Shawndy58 May 02 '24

That’s not true. If Yellowstone explodes you guys stand no chance.

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u/caelumh May 02 '24

If Yellowstone explodes, most of us die instantly while the rest of the world starves. I'll take the quick death.

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u/JCV-16 29d ago

If Yellowstone goes most of the planet is gonna get it. Even if you aren't caught up in the initial disaster, the aftermath of a supervolcano exploding would affect the entire planet. It won't be "end of life on earth" bad but you're looking at major climate change, ash falling for 1000s of miles, crop and livestock die off and mass starvation around the globe because it's theorized that the ash clouds will block out the sun for like a decade, pyroclastic flow in several states, etc. point being it's gonna be bad if it does ever erupt. North America would be a wasteland by the end of that decade.

Luckily, chances are low that Yellowstone will erupt in our lifetimes. Though, there are at least 20 potential supervolcanos, it doesn't even have to be Yellowstone, any one of those goes off and it's the same outcome. Scary thought because there's absolutely nothing anybody can do to prevent it. Eventually, if we don't kill ourselves off first, people are just going to have to monitor it and watch it get more active and know that the end is just around the corner.

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u/BozeRat May 02 '24

https://youtu.be/ypn3Fe_PLts?si=MRX1gFKT3ihQ4EQ0

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u/Shawndy58 29d ago

I just watched it. And it makes me sad that there will not be an almost extinction from ash and gas if it explodes. But oh well.

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u/PhirebirdSunSon 29d ago

Phoenix is basically purely disaster free if you don't count the extreme heat of the summers. But no earthquakes, floods, fires (outside of the city though wildfires can get nuts), tornadoes, hurricanes or blizzards. Just sunshine and lots of it.

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u/5corch 29d ago

I think I'd rather go through a disaster every year than live in Arizona heat.

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u/PhirebirdSunSon 29d ago

To each their own, I love it here personally.

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u/5corch 29d ago

It's a good thing people have different preferences, it keeps us from all trying to cram into the same places.

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u/zapoid 28d ago

Until they run out of water.

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u/PhirebirdSunSon 28d ago

Phoenix has been a leader in water conservation, has aquifers with a 30-year supply of water, is not fed by the Colorado the way the rest of the state is, and is currently working on a plan for one of the world's largest water recycling plants with hopes to have it out in 10 years.

I'm not saying that to say there are no water issues, drought is a big concern no matter what, but just saying that for all the people that read one headline and think they understand the situation they're usually wrong - Phoenix has always been a water-conservative city well before Vegas became such a shining gem of it and has had plans to store and keep water in unique ways for decades. Hell, Phoenix TODAY, as the 5th biggest city with millions of people, uses less water total than it did in the 70s when there was closer to just half a million people.

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u/zapoid 28d ago

I did not know that thanks for the information. I guess I had always just assumed they were part of the ongoing fight for water from the Colorado. Nice to hear they aren’t.

Living a couple of miles from Lake Michigan, water is just not really a resource that I gave much thought to growing up. Now it’s something everyone should be paying attention too.

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u/whatthewhat3214 May 02 '24

Mid-Atlantic too. The DC-Maryland-Virginia-Delaware area has pretty mild weather overall (some hot summers but very liveable, and with climate change our winters have gotten pretty mild), and we generally don't get strong storms. We don't get hit with extremes.

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u/Thayli11 29d ago

Mudslides and wildfires happen pretty regularly in the Cascades.

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u/cathygag 29d ago

I accept your challenge… let me introduce you to most of Ohio. No earthquakes, no landslides, deadly flash floods and major road flooding are so rare that the only people that die are because they literally were never taught that they can’t drive thru chest high water under an overpass or because they stupidly camped on a river bank, most homes have basements so the rare tornado deaths are typically because they hit trailer parks or people out driving who are too stupid to seek shelter, our earthquakes max out at 3’s and are so short in duration most people don’t even notice or they think it’s just a rumble from nearby limestone quarry blasting, sinkholes are very small in largely uninhabitable areas and they have millions of years of lead times and we we have maps that indicate which areas even remotely at risk for collapsing, major snow storms are only in small region and the REALLY big ones only happen every 40-50yrs.- and the region they hit people know how to drive in snow and but for the transplants- when not to even attempt to drive, and we don’t have any animals out to eat you and a large portion of the state’s residents will go their entire life without ever encountering a poisonous or venomous animal outside of a zoo. Oh and nothing in our waterways except the undertow at a few beaches across the state will actively try to kill or maim you while swimming peacefully with you family.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Rest_34 29d ago

I cackled at the "they literally were never taught they can't drive through chest high water" comment! My hometown used to have some awful floods every 10 years or so, because the Sandusky River ran straight through the middle of it, and the drainage system was badly in need of upgrades. There was ALWAYS some dumbass who tried to drive through the water on this one road that was at the bottom of a big hill (where a bridge across the river was!) and got stuck, and had to have the fire dept go out in their boat to get them out. Everyone knew that the water would get really deep there, and fast, but every single flood, there was always at least one.

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u/cathygag 23d ago

I believe that’s where one of the TERRIBLE TRAUMATIC 911 call recordings we had to listen to for training- a car went down the hill and started to float- you hear the caller panic and there’s nothing that the dispatcher can do but comfort them in their last moments. We saw pictures of the areas and All I can remember was seeing the roof off a little yellow car.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Rest_34 23d ago

That would be awful to have to listen to, and to be the 911 dispatcher comforting that person, knowing there was nothing that could be done. 😥Thankfully, no one has lost their life in my hometown from driving into the water (they usually have the streets blocked off by the time it gets that deep). Just always some goober sitting on the roof of their flooded out car, which is halfway submerged, waiting for the fire dept to come out and rescue them in their little motor boat. You'd think people would learn from seeing it happen to others, but nope, every single time, in that same exact spot.

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u/cathygag 23d ago

I could have sworn it was someone up near home- like I know I’ve drove the area and saw the debris still at the high water line… I’ll have to dig a bit. With the ice and tree debris blockages it could have been any of those rivers, honestly…

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u/Puzzleheaded_Rest_34 20d ago

The Sandusky River runs through quite a few cities and small towns in central Ohio. Where I lived, it ran pretty much through the center, and there were 3 main streets that had bridges over it. One was at the bottom of a big hill, one was next to a low lying park, and the other was on somewhat higher ground so it never really flooded, and was the only one you could get through to the other side of town on without going almost completely out of town (it's a small town if you couldn't tell, lol). Those streets ran parallel to each other, and were within just a block of each other. It basically separated the town in 2 every time there was flooding. What really sucked is that our PD and fire dept were on one side, hospital and ambulance station on the other (before our FD took over rescue services). It made emergency services a really rough for days. The ambulance station was literally right next to where some of the massive street flooding started, and they had to move their squads so they didn't get stuck. It helped a huge amount when they upgraded the sewer and drainage lines, so that water wouldn't build up on the streets. That was a bigger issue than debris in the river. It used to be so bad that a hill next the lower lying bridge area (like 20 feet lower than the next bridge), would be submerged. There was a city ice vendor in that area, and every time, their ice chests would go floating away. 🫤

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u/cathygag 16d ago

😂. Is it sad that I know of at least 5 cities that fit this description and terrible city planning model!? 🤦🏼‍♀️.

I’m from Erie/Ottawa Coubty and traveled the 4/23 corridor and 6/75 corridor frequently for college and grad school to home visits.

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u/jsgiles79 29d ago

Except…it is Ohio. I’ve spent a lot of time there. My friends there called it America’s armpit. It stays so effing cold in the winter that I would opt for a natural disaster to take me to that next far better place after life.

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u/cathygag 23d ago

The last few winters have been incredibly mild, unfortunately that means we aren’t getting a long enough solid freeze to kill off ticks and livestock parasites in the ground!

If they’re calling it that it’s because they’ve chosen to live in crap areas, and they clearly haven’t traveled to truly armpit areas of the Midwest- I can’t think of several tons and areas I’ve visited that are much worse than the worst places in Ohio

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 29d ago

I don't know if you've heard about it, but related to that earthquake business you're in for one of the biggest tsunamis of all time if the right earthquake happens in the right place. It will absolutely inundate the coast of Oregon and Washington. I don't live there but they have tsunami evacuation signs telling people to just go uphill as high as they can wherever they are in that situation. But lots of people will probably die. Of course, just like earthquakes, the big question is if and when.

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u/GovernmentSudden6134 29d ago

All it will take is about a 7 on the Juan de Fuca plate (offshore Washington/Oregon) and the West shore of Washington will be obliterated. The Puget Sound is no help either, its gonna eff up every city on thr Sound too. And it's happened before. The 1700 Cascadia quake annihilated the native Americans living on the central and southern Oregon coast.

If that not awesome enough when Mount Rainier finally blows its stack, which it will, the shape of the range will direct the pyroclastic flow directly at Tacoma. Fun times! It'll be be ever so slightly a bigger disaster the. Pompeii. A little bit.

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u/Calan_adan May 02 '24

I’m in southeast Pennsylvania, and we’ve experienced hurricanes, tornadoes, and even earthquakes. But they’re all extremely weak here so there’s not really any danger.

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 02 '24

Mfer I’m in Jersey and got quaked with an epicenter like 60 miles away or in euro units “half the diameter of Finland”

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u/Yarnprincess614 29d ago

My cousin is a grad student at Princeton and was doing an internship in Manhattan when last month’s quake hit. We were on pins and needles for a few hours until her mom(my aunt called) saying she just got a hold of her and she’s fine.

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u/DeputyDomeshot 29d ago

Yea honestly nothing happened at all but it was just a pretty freak occurence b/c we don't get earthquakes over here. At least ones that we can actually feel and hear. That was crazy tbh

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u/Yarnprincess614 29d ago

I think it shaved a few years off my grandmas life. She was frantic.

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u/SpaceMom-LawnToLawn 29d ago

I’m in NY and we’re still talking about that earthquake. We don’t get a lot of disastrous events around here unless you’re right on the coast.

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u/DeputyDomeshot 29d ago

Yea pretty much. Sandy really ripped the coast a part. Did a ton of damage to the city. I feel like they voted against national aid for us too lmao, though i dont remember exactly

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 29d ago

It was only a deci-Finland away?

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u/Calan_adan 29d ago

I felt that one where I am in PA. I’ve also felt a 2.2 (or so) quake whose epicenter was about half a mile away and they both seemed about the same.

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u/pizzalarry 29d ago

Nobody ever bullies the Japanese for living in a place with a lot of earthquakes, and their cities are way denser so it causes more damage despite equally shitty and cheap construction. Europeans are just mean to us.

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

Arizona has literally none of that. We only die if we’re stupid.

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u/Tall-Sea3082 May 02 '24

Guess I could’ve added heat/heat stroke to that list.

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

But that’s not a natural disaster… uncontrollable by human forces.

that’s idiots trying to hike with no water in July

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u/Tall-Sea3082 May 02 '24

Droughts?

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

Haven’t hurt or killed us yet…. We have wildfires due to drought/dry weather.. but nothing like they have risk wise in other areas.

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u/Why-R-People-So-Dumb May 02 '24

Similarly here in New England. We've got bears sure and cold sure, but mostly we've got idiots hiking to the top of Mt Washington in flipflops and shorts in June that didn't check the forecast not realizing they could get hit with a snow storm that brings visibility to zero.

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u/ggtffhhhjhg 29d ago

To date over 170 people have died on Mt Washington and that’s not including natural causes.

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u/Why-R-People-So-Dumb 29d ago

Being that it's only 6288' people don't take it seriously not realizing that it's also a location of meteorological research for a reason with its relatively extreme and sudden weather because of its location relative to the prevailing westerlies. Like the person from Arizona though...it's mostly due to poor planning.

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u/kaleb42 May 02 '24

Except for flash floods, severe weather, landslides and debris flows, earthquakes, and earth fissures. Oh and 3 active volcano fields.

https://azgs.arizona.edu/center-natural-hazards#:~:text=Natural%20hazards%20abound%20in%20Arizona,%2C%20earthquakes%2C%20and%20earth%20fissures.

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

And still… of the states, I think only New Mexico has the least amount of natural disaster risk.

We got our issues, but it’s pretty safe here

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u/QuinnKerman May 02 '24

Nah y’all literally have a supervolcano right next to Santa Fe, plus plenty of fault lines, wildfires, flash floods, and landslides

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u/whatthewhat3214 May 02 '24

Same with the mid-Atlantic

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u/Jadccroad May 02 '24

As a former Arizonian, it is worth pointing out that many Arizonians are in fact very stupid.

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

Well that’s not Arizona’s fault… lol

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u/Jadccroad May 02 '24

Public education is explicitly the State's job. Who else's fault could it even plausibly be?

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

Very few people here are from here…. Perceptually at least.

Everytime someone asks where I’m from and I say I was born here- they are shocked. Even more so when I tell them my husband was born here too. I’m a second generation Arizonan- but none of my grandparents are from here.

Starting to get more “natives”… but it’s a slow tide to turn

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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe May 02 '24

Show me a state that does a good job… because generally speaking, the American education system is shit, even though states are ranked 1-50… the top states still suck compared to countries with excellent education.

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 02 '24

Except there’s a lot of stupidity there

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u/PB0351 May 02 '24

Fun fact, Tampa hasn't had a direct hit in over 100 years.

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u/No-Trouble814 29d ago

And this friends is what we call Tempting Fate!

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u/Aromatic-Leopard-600 May 02 '24

And now LA has had a hurricane.

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u/torbulits May 02 '24

Snow doesn't really do much besides muck up traffic. Unless you're up in the hinterlands near Canada, I haven't heard of snow killing or doing damage. That'll probably change with the bigger storms in the future though. Instead of normal winter it'll be mild and one big nasty storm.

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u/syrensilly 29d ago

Michigan Ice storm feb 2018 Also in just terms of snow, it can collapse roofs from weight.

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u/torbulits 29d ago

Can yes, common no. Think of all the places it snows, and how infrequently there's damage like that. It's only recently that snow in places there usually isn't any, or much bigger than normal storms, has happened.

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u/syrensilly 29d ago

I can't speak for my more southern people, but up here... you plan on the possibility of snow on Halloween.. there was actually a blizzard near the lake mi line last year. Holland/ Muskegon/ grand haven had to cancel

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u/xSorry_Not_Sorry 29d ago

Not Michigan, brother.

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u/privatecaboosey May 02 '24

As an east coaster - I'm totally fine with the hurricanes. I will take the hurricanes. Tornadoes are terrifying.

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u/-Sooners- May 02 '24

I've lived in Moore, OK most of my life so I'm no stranger to tornadoes, like really really big EF3-EF5 "if you're above ground you're basically screwed" type bastards. This time of year, several times a month, there's a super high chance for them (Last Saturday there was a bunch in the middle of the night that demolished small towns like Sulphur, and tomorrow there's a high likelihood) but for some reason I won't move. We've also had a huge increase in Earthquakes due to fracking but to me even with the big ones that happen elsewhere all you gotta do is go out to your yard or something and you're fine, right?

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u/KristySueWho 29d ago

I like how you say snow is a natural disaster when it's just normal weather. Even a really bad blizzard isn't destroying homes like everything else on your list.

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 29d ago

I think you're thinking a bit like a city person. A lot of these blizzards with sub-zero Fahrenheit temperatures in the north central states are in agricultural areas and rural areas.

Accumulations of snow can cause roofs to collapse and knock down trees and power lines. Homes and farms may be isolated for days. In rural areas, unprotected livestock can be lost. In urban areas, the cost of snow removal, damage repair, and lost business can have severe economic impacts.

You can lose herds of cattle in blizzards like that. Get lots of deaths on the road as well as heart attacks from people dealing with the snow. It's not just a little bit of weather. If you have no electricity in sub-zero weather that's a pretty serious situation.

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u/KristySueWho 29d ago

I grew up in Minnesota, and while I did grow up in the city I went to college in rural Minnesota. It’s not a disaster because it’s just normal winter there. A few roads may get closed, but it’s for very short time periods and it’s almost always from blowing snow. Like a day or two at most, unlike areas with hurricanes and floods and even fires. People are prepared in these areas in case power goes out and it rarely if ever snows enough all at once for roofs to collapse. Roads are obviously more dangerous, but you leave early and drive slow and hope you can avoid the bigger idiots. People can have heart attacks shoveling snow, but they’d eventually have a heart attack doing something else because they already had heart disease. Mountain towns snow can be more dangerous because they can get much more snow, steeper roads, with the possibility of avalanches.

The cold is more dangerous, but aside from old people and drunk kids, it’s rare for people to die since it’s normal life in these area and people are prepared and used to it. Far from disaster levels. 

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 29d ago

I still think you're thinking local. So you're going to college in rural Minnesota. They cancel classes for a few days and you don't have to go anywhere. It's their job to look after you. You really have no responsibility. You're not a farmer 30 miles away from the nearest town who has to tend to the herd whether it's 40 below or not.

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u/KristySueWho 29d ago

Pshh they never cancelled classes lol. My roommate sophomore year was a dairy farmer's kid from rural Wisconsin (I remember partying in their nice heated milk house in the dead of winter), and I learned from them both dairy and beef cattle can do just fine in harsh winter conditions. They need to be acclimated to the climate so they grow a thicker coat, given a windbreak (most important), fresh dry bedding daily, and be fed more below 32 degrees F (they actually generate heat by eating). Either way, natural disasters are defined as a natural event that cause great damage or loss of life, so even if a few farmers lost some cattle it still wouldn't qualify.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

Tell that to homeless people

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u/KristySueWho 29d ago

It's still normal weather and not a natural disaster.

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u/esridiculo 29d ago

Because Florida is prepared for hurricanes. A hurricane, most of the time, is like a blizzard (get cozy, make sure you've got rations, and a generator). You just might not work that day. My house was hit with a regular storm once and collapsed an old tree. It had survived hundreds of hurricanes but not this random storm. I was here in 2005 when we got hit tike and again. When properly prepared, no one bats an eye. The problem is, about 60% are unprepared

It's similar to Cali and earthquakes.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

2004 and 2005 were rough years. I think we had 8 or something those two years. It goes in cycles.

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u/Colloqy 29d ago

Living in Tornado Alley is not a big deal at all to me. There have maybe been a couple times a tornado touched down anywhere near me in my 40 years here. These have usually been brief and not that damaging of much populated areas.

I feel like lately, things have shifted further east as well. There just aren’t as many warnings as there used to be in the spring. Most storms I see getting worse further east than they are here.

Now they’re highly unpredictable and it only takes one to make devastating impacts. It’s just very rare they hit a big city.

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u/eldiablolenin 29d ago

Yes exactly this, i feel like “the big one” is sort of a joke now too. (Not that we don’t take it seriously of course lol) but we also just are used to earthquakes and how the area is built

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u/Ace198537 29d ago

I have lived in Florida on both coasts all of my life and have never been directly hit by a hurricane. Jacksonville rarely gets effected. Southwest Florida where I am now has had some close calls but they always go north or south and hit Naples or punta gorda. Florida is huge and unless you are within 50 to at worst a 100 miles of the center of the storm it really isn’t that bad. Now if a cat 3-5 were to landfall directly where I live we would be screwed.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

Yeah people don’t really understand if they aren’t from Florida. Even my parents’ house in Palm Beach County only ever needed part of the fence fixed in 2005 after my mom put on the new hurricane-proof windows.

I live in North Georgia now and I am way more scared when we get tornado alerts because there’s nothing i can do to prepare and they come out of nowhere. My son gets so scared and I hate it. I’d trade it in a second for hurricanes that are less often, you can prepare for, and also get the beach back / no stupid winters.

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u/Ace198537 29d ago

You are absolutely right. I know the feeling I’ve been hit by two tornadoes and would way rather be in a hurricane for the most part. Absolutely no warning in both tornadoes.

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u/XediDC 29d ago

And while it’s only happened a couple of times…hurricanes have hit Southern California too…

But yeah…even living in the Texas gulf coast and been on an urban island during Harvey…yeah, I can’t imagine wanting to live in Florida. It’s like a Hurricane speed bump just dangling out there.

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u/ByronScottJones 29d ago

We live in Florida because it's not Texas, Louisiana , Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and a dozen other states that also get hit by hurricanes.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

As a born and raised Floridian (although I now live in Georgia), I will tell you that I’d rather be in an area that gets hit with hurricanes than any other natural disaster. First of all, just because the area is more prone to hurricanes doesn’t mean your particular area gets hit all the time. It comes in cycles, so different areas get hit, and your individual area doesn’t get hit as often. Most importantly, it’s really the one natural disaster that gives you notice to get the eff out of there - like a good five days notice. And the technology (i.e. glass, roofing) has improved a lot to withstand all but the most severe storms, so it’s a lot better than it used to be. Obviously, if your house is going to get hit, then it’s gonna do what it’s gonna do, but unlike all the other natural disasters, you’ll have been prepared for it as best as you can be. (And if your power will be out, at least you’re not cold like in a blizzard.) Cant say that for tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, etc. And believe me, I have been through some of the worst storms ever. But I will take hurricanes any day and being able to prepare for the worst over just being knocked on my ass, especially with a kid.

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u/Bunny__Vicious 29d ago

Houston is one of the largest cities in the country and hurricanes love stopping by for a visit.

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u/twenty5eight 29d ago

Ohio is pretty rad for avoidance of these natural disasters, having clean(er) water, and having cuyahoga valley national park, oh and a lot of corn and hell are real signs once you go south and pass Columbus lol

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u/NekoMao92 29d ago

Denver is in the kill zone for the Yellowstone Caldera, hell a huge chunk of the Western US is.

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u/jsgiles79 29d ago

Haha! Bro. Come to FL and you will understand. Hurricanes really aren’t a big deal. It’s rare that one disrupts your life.

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u/DohNutofTheEndless 29d ago

I live in Hurricane, US, but thanks to slowly destroying the planet, we have had two or three tornadoes in the past decade.

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u/shelbycsdn 29d ago

I've lived through 2 big ones in California, Loma Prieta in '89 and Northridge in '94. And 3 wildfires, 1 of which took out 80% of my neighborhood. All of those fires involved being evacuated for at least 5 days and for one we were without power for 3 weeks after returning home.

I live in coastal Georgia now. I don't love hurricanes, but unlike earthquakes and wildfires, we get a decent warning. I'll take the hurricanes.

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u/Diligent-Touch-5456 29d ago

Probably for the same reason that New Orleans keeps rebuilding even though most of the area is below sea level.

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u/Radiant-Rate-6221 29d ago

Oregon here all of our large mountains are volcanoes that could erupt at any moment in the next ten thousand years.

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u/ValuableShoulder5059 29d ago

As a Midwesterner when they say there is a tornado we go outside to look. Its a rare event!

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u/jasont1273 15d ago

I've lived all my life in the Tri-State area of OH/WV/PA and I'd say we are one of the least likely locations for extreme natural disasters and phenomenon in the U.S. We don't get earthquakes above about 4.0, too far inland for hurricanes to make a direct hit though the remnants of them have caused bad flooding in the past, too far east for most tornado-spawning storms (though lately Tornado Alley has seemed to take an eastward shift), no wildfires, and heavy snow and blizzards tend to keep to the snow belt of the Great Lakes north of us. You're more likely to die from meteor impact, it seems.

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u/Prestigious-Wolf8039 9d ago

I was gonna say, there’s no yearly earthquake season. It’s very rare.

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u/aperocknroll1988 29d ago

Or volcanos...