# Nuclear Blast Maps...type in your zip code!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 23, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266 "2004-11-23T13:26:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/1 "2004-11-23T13:26:40Z")
[Link](http://www.nuclearterror.org/blastmaps.html)
Oh, my. I wish it were more detailed, but I think I’d rather see a flash of white light and be dead rather than live to tell the tale.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/2 "2004-11-23T14:09:47Z")
Doesn’t work for me. ☹
The little window pops up (after a much longer loading time than I would expect.) When i type in my zipcode, it says something to the effect of “the previous reques(s) were not received.”
Of course, being in the middle of the Adirondacks, I’m fairly certain on one is planning on blowing me up.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/3 "2004-11-23T14:22:44Z")
That happened to me when I typed in the zip code first.
Pick another one, then try again.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/4 "2004-11-23T14:37:54Z")
I can’t get the thing to work either. But based on the numbers they give, I’m a little surprised. So if you’re two miles away from ground zero, what? Nothing? Your kid is born with gills? Honestly, I thought it would be far worse than that. I was under the impression that we’d all be glowing mutants dying of leukemia. According to this site, if something like the Sears Tower suffers a direct hit, the damage won’t even reach to DePaul University on Fullerton. Still…y’know…tragic, but hardly something that will destroy western civilization as we know it.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/5 "2004-11-23T17:15:06Z")
Weird! When I gave it my zip code, ground zero was pretty much right on top of my house!
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/6 "2004-11-23T17:16:53Z")
Hey, I’m in the blue zone. So my chances are pretty good.
But I guess nuclear war is a bad thing. Who knew?
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/7 "2004-11-23T17:20:20Z")
From the center of my zip code, it wouldn’t even reach to my apartment! It would, however, take out one of my favorite restaurants; and wipe out a piece of Parker Rd., which would make the drive to work less crowded. All in all, mixed blessings.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/8 "2004-11-23T17:24:59Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#):
>
> From the center of my zip code, it wouldn’t even reach to my apartment! It would, however, take out one of my favorite restaurants; and wipe out a piece of Parker Rd., which would make the drive to work less crowded. All in all, mixed blessings.
You heartless bastard 🙂 🙂 😉 (is that enough smileys I hope)
I have family who live near Parker road, just you prommise this minute not to set off any nuclear explosions arround there, or I’ll get cross.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/9 "2004-11-23T17:28:52Z")
at least my home won’t be destroyed by a 10kt nuke attack on my workplace. Pfew!
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/10 "2004-11-23T17:30:40Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#):
>
> I have family who live near Parker road, just you prommise this minute not to set off any nuclear explosions arround there, or I’ll get cross.
_sigh_
mutters “I promise”
_sighs again_
kicks can and wanders off
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/11 "2004-11-23T17:31:52Z")
I don’t have a zip code. Does that mean I’m immune?
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/12 "2004-11-23T17:35:10Z")
When I type in my zip code, my house is just outside (by about one block) of the blue line. Whew, I’m safe. 😉
PS - It wouldn’t work with Mozilla, I had to use IE to view it.
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### Author:  [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/13 "2004-11-23T17:36:36Z")
Talk about a blast from the past…
My Dad was a major in the Canadian reserves for the longest time before I was born. This was during the cold war. He was very involved in civil defence, and planning for the after effects of a nuclear strike in the Montreal region in the event of total nuclear war in the 50s and 60s. BTW, they had determined that to evacuate the entire island of Montreal, with the the population at the time, would required every single vehicle, no traffic blockages, the use of every single bridge will all lanes outbound, and take three days! So the strategy was changed from evacuation of the civilian population to just evacuating government leaders and the reserve units to shelters up North (Near St-Jerome, I think) and then come back into the city, skirting the overly hot zones, and just evacuating the survivors before most of the fallout came back down…:eek:
The night of the cuban missle crisis, he and his unit were on stand-by, at the armoury, with the truck engines running, waiting for the order to evacuate to the shelters… Depiste it being against the rules, he had a pre-arranged single colour word telephone code with my Mom, depending on how long a warning they had of incoming nukes targetting Canada. If it was only a bomber strike with a 4 hour warning, she was to drive to a small town in the Abitibi region of NW Quebec and wait for him at a motel there. From his training, this was the most fallout free region to which she could get in time.
So when I was looking though his old army stuff, after he passed on, I found his map case with “secret” maps of the Montreal area with acetate transparency overlays of blast damage radii and fallout paths by warhead yield and wind speed. That was a pretty “cool” find, but it did give me shivers…
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### Author:  [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/14 "2004-11-23T17:39:40Z")
> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> I don’t have a zip code. Does that mean I’m immune?
Maybe. I guess we’ll just have to sit back and chug a couple beers while all those unfortunate enough to have zip codes are watching the fallout. 😃
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/15 "2004-11-23T17:41:15Z")
Well, I’m more than a mile from my zip code centroid.
It’s a good thing those terrorists only detonate bombs right at the center mass point of each zip code!
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/16 "2004-11-23T17:59:44Z")
HA! In your FACE, 55th Street!
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/17 "2004-11-23T18:03:02Z")
> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> I don’t have a zip code. Does that mean I’m immune?
Of course you are. There is that forcefield at the US/Canadian border which will keep you safe, remember?
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/18 "2004-11-23T18:12:59Z")
Damn. If my zipcode were directly targeted, I would be right in the middle of the radiation and fire. Yet two blocks away, children will be safely playing and running around without a care in the world.
Why does this seem so unrealistic?
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### Author:  [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/19 "2004-11-23T18:13:26Z")
Looks like I’m screwed. ☹ The red zone is centered close to my house, even though the center of my community is about a half mile to the east, from where I live, where the city hall and post office are located. I’d like to know how the precise locations based on zip codes is determined anyway.
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-blast-maps-type-in-your-zip-code/276266/20 "2004-11-23T18:16:40Z")
I notice that this thing seems to be placing ground zero on the post office for the zip code you put in (or it did at least for me, since I’m on the very edge of my zip code and the edge of the blast radius was a good mile, mile and a half away from me.)
Plus it doesn’t take into account the impact wind could have on fallout.
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