Which part of the U.S. is least prone to natural disasters?
Tornadoes, rock-slides, volcanoes, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. I know disasters can happen anywhere, but where in the U.S. are they least likely?
Right here in Minnesota we’re allegedly one of the top Tornado states, but not so you’d know. We generally don’t get a lot of the really big mile wide ones. We don’t have any volcanoes, I think the largest Earthquake is in the 2 range, not a lot of rock slides (no mountains), no coast for tsunamis, and although we have some wildfires, not anywhere near like drier areas of the country.
Upstate New York (the Albany area) has very few.
- Tornadoes: I’ve been here 40 years and there has only been one confirmed tornado in the area.
- Earthquakes: Only one, a gentle shaking that just rattled windows and caused no damage.
- Tsunamis: We’re over 100 miles inland. No chance.
- Wildfires: Never heard of one in the area.
- Hurricanes: too far from the ocean to get the full force; they do sometimes dump a lot of rain, but with little damage and no loss of life.
- Volcanoes: none.
- Rockslides: every once in awhile, but rarely in inhabited areas. The Adirondacks are old mountains; most of the rockslides happened centuries ago.
- Snowstorms: The worst. But it’s rare they they’re more than an inconvenience; snow can be shoveled and will eventually melt.
- Heat waves: the most likely, but that means temperatures in the 90s.
I’d guess Vermont has similar conditions.
I suspect many folks would consider Minnesota blizzards a natural disaster, although perhaps not on a tsunami-level scale. They can strand you, damage infrastructure, prevent travel, and often carry a human death toll. And don’t get me started on the mosquitos that can carry off children.
But only those below average.
Central Valley in California. Local flooded streets with very heavy rainfall is as bad as it gets.
OKC, OK!
Tornadoes, earthquakes (minor, for now), floods (but no tsunamis), blizzards, fires, hail, extreme winds…
Hey, NO VOLCANOS! Yeay us.
College sports joke explaining why Oklahoma is always so windy:
Because Texas sucks and Kansas blows!
The Intermountain Region - that zone lying between the Sierra/Cascades and the Rockies has generally been spared the worst of natural disasters. Any of the above can happen, have happened (well, except for tsunamis), but the events are mostly rare and not terribly severe when they do occur. Probably the greatest threat is drought and wildfires. The fires occur every year, but because of the way the country has developed they usually happen in unpopulated areas with minimal loss of life and property. Weather extremes like blizzards happen mostly in the higher elevations whereas the population is largely concentrated in the sheltered valleys. Flooding can occur, but the terrain has sufficient vertical relief that floods are generally limited to narrow corridors along waterways. The threat of volcanism is always there, but the worst hot spots are located well away from population centers. Overall, a fairly pleasant place to live.
Anecdotal, but we don’t get a lot of natural disasters in New Mexico. Fire and drought are probably our biggest concern (we are in a rather nasty drought in my area right now…wish we’d get some of the rain plaguing the rest of the country) with occasional floods if we get a really heavy monsoon (we haven’t gotten any of those big ones lately so we are probably due). Nevada doesn’t seem to be subject to a lot of disasters either, relatively speaking…some flooding occasionally, and fire and drought like the rest of the south west.
-XT
But with a large fault line just under Salt Lake City and a mega-volcano under Yellowstone, that are doesn’t seem to safe to me!
Yeah, but if Yellowstone goes up (something that only happens every half million years or so, IIRC), we are all screwed anyway. If you live in New York you are going to be affected if Yellowstone blows it’s top, so no real reason to worry about it.
-XT
This is an interesting question. Let’s take a closer look at it.
Looking at various wikipedia articles about them, here’s a list of things that can be considered “natural disasters”:[ul][li]Avalanche[/li][li]Blizzard[/li][li]Cyclone/hurricane[/li][li]Drought[/li][li]Earthquake[/li][li]Flood/landslide[/li][li]Heat wave[/li][li]Limnic eruption[/li][li]Meteorite[/li][li]Storm (non-cyclone)[/li][li]Tornado[/li][li]Tsunami[/li][li]Volcano[/li][li]Wildfire[/li][/ul]Excluded are things like disease and famine, which, while “disasters,” I personally don’t consider “natural disasters,” though reasonable minds may differ.
Applying this list to the United States, it’s hard to think of an area that isn’t particularly affected by at least one of these. (A few can be eliminated: I don’t think there’s ever been a notable limnic eruption in the US, and meteorites and storms are a minor phenomenon that is uniformly distributed.)
Let’s break this down by state. Here’s a list of states, and what natural disasters may be particularly likely there. Perhaps other posters can fill in the blanks or correct me where I’m wrong. Let’s do this from West to East and from North to South…
[ul]
[li]AK - Avalanche, blizzard, drought, flood/landslide, tsunami, volcano, wildfire[/li][li]HI - Cyclone/hurricane, tsunami, volcano[/li][li]WA, OR - Avalanche, blizzard, tsunami[/li][li]CA - Drought, earthquake, flood/landslide, heat wave, tsunami, wildfire[/li][li]ID - Blizzard, volcano[/li][li]NV, AZ - Drought, heat wave[/li][li]MT, WY, ND, SD - Blizzard, earthquake, volcano[/li][li]CO - Avalanche, blizzard, drought, earthquake, volcano[/li][li]NM - Drought, heat wave, wildfire[/li][li]ND, SD - Blizzard, earthquake, tornado volcano[/li][li]NE - Blizzard, tornado, volcano[/li][li]KS - Blizzard, tornado[/li][li]OK - Tornado, heatwave, wildfire[/li][li]TX - Cyclone/hurricane, drought, heatwave, tornado, wildfire[/li][li]MN, IA - Blizzard, flood[/li][li]WI, MI - Blizzard[/li][li]MO, IL - Blizzard, flood, tornado[/li][li]AR - ?[/li][li]LA, MS, AL, GA, FL - Cyclone/hurricane, flood, heatwave[/li][li]IN, OH, KY, TN - ?[/li][li]SC, NC - Heatwave[/li][li]WV, VA, MD, DC - ?[/li][li]PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, ME - Blizzard[/li][li]VT, NH - Avalanche, blizzard[/li][/ul]The list presumes the Yellowstone caldera is a volcano risk, and states along the Mississippi have higher flood risks.
AR - Floods, being in Arkansas, severe T-storms often have a possibility for tornados, ice storms
OH, KY, TN also get floods, ice storms, recently KY had tornados
You left earthquake off of AK OR and WA. One of the biggest quakes ever recorded was the 1964 Alaska quake. And everyone around here (Pacific Northwest) is worried about a repeat of the 1700 Cascadia quake.
OR and WA also get non-cyclonic storms. Sometimes with winds equalling those of hurricanes
AR IN OH KY and TN all get tornadoes
ETA OR and WA also have volcanoes, as does California
Wisconsin is on the Mississippi, as well as having several other not-insignificant rivers (Wisconsin River, Fox River). While it may not often get floods on the scale of some other areas, flooding isn’t uncommon there. In fact, flooding is going on right now:
Yucca Mountain, Nevada?
Several good additions. But note that I was trying to list natural disasters that are particularly likely in a given state. Not just possible in a given state. I mean, Alabama is currently experiencing some of the worst tornadoes in the history of the country, but “tornado” aren’t on the list for Alabama because tornadoes are an aberration there.
I wouldn’t necessarily agree with blizzards being a hazard in most of the midwest. You can get some very large snowfall, but they’re not as lethal and debilitating as a true blizzard which is high snowfall and high winds. These are more a hazard in the plains states than the midwest proper.
The thread reminds me of an episode of the X-Files or Millennium, where an odd group set up home in the place in the US least likely to suffer natural disaster, in anticipation of some sort of apocalypse.