Charleston, South Carolina. Yes, hurricanes may happen but they’re extremely rare to cause real, widespread damage. We had a near miss a few years ago and I lost some shingles and my ridge vent. A direct hit would be worse, but, as I said, is not a high-probability outcome.
Honestly, the biggest natural disaster we have is one that happens every year: July, August and September. Those are months where it actively gets hot enough - and humid enough - to kill people. Add some extra months where the sun is enough to cause serious health issues - melanoma risk is more than 10% higher in the entire state than nationally and here in CHS higher still - and it’s really the geography and climate that’s the real natural disaster, here.
As to why? My kids are here and I’ve got an install-base of clients. Everyplace has trade offs. I gotta admit, I don’t miss shoveling snow.
We live in the Colorado Rockies. Fire danger is the big one. Snow can be a bit of a bitch, but you get used to it. Ironically, we got 2 inches of snow yesterday, the first day of ‘summer’.
I don’t ski or participate in other winter activities (unless you call shoveling and plowing and activity), but it’s just gorgeous winter and summer. At our elevation the sky is a deeper blue, and there is something crisp about every day. Summers, for as much as we have, are just wonderful. Never hot. Never humid. The other side of our valley is composed of two 14,000’ peaks. Deck time is very special.
Main threat is storms, either hail or tornadoes. Hail is costly, but highly unlikely to leave me homeless. Tornadoes are a larger threat, but to a smaller number of people. In other words, if I were displaced by a hurricane or tsunami, I’d be competing with 10’s or 100’s of thousands of people for resources and shelter. With a tornado, it’s more likely a few hundred.
The OP’s question was: “What outweighs the natural disaster potential”. My answer is income vs COL. I can live better and work less in this area than most of the other viable locations. I have worked in Seattle, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Gotten offers from firms in Boston area, Nashua, Cedar Rapids, Independence (Kansas) and few others. The DFW area had the best mixture of income, COL, job security, entertainment options, and weather (I hate snow). Also, at least in Texas, the lack of public transportation is offset by a very good road system, so I can live well outside the city and commute in from the exurbs. So I guess all that outweighs the relatively minor weather threats.
We are in Minnesota. Our natural disaster potential is low. Tornados, but not bad. Blizzards, but in the modern era snow really isn’t a problem unless you haven’t gone to the grocery store in a month. Hail - but not like the true prairie states - its seldom roof impacting. We are enough above sea level that global warming isn’t an issue. We get mosquitos - are they a natural disaster?
In exchange we get four seasons, lovely lakes, a ton of urban green parks. We don’t get mountains - our inland sea is rather cold (and two hours from the Twin Cities)
Here in SW Idaho, the Treasure Valley specifically and Boise/Ada County extra specifically, air quality is the problem. Oh sure, we have earthquakes from time to time (ID seems to be among the top 10 most seismically active states) and the occasional severe weather alert from NOAA. I suppose there is a flood hazard from being pretty much directly below an earthen dam.
No, it’s the air quality. Used to be, we’d get all of LA’s crap blowing up here and accumulating at the head of the valley where Boise sits. Until very recently, when they made mandatory emmisions testing state wide, Boise would get all the crap from the next county west blowing in plus whatever got into the air over in Mahleur Co. Oregon. Then pile on all the smoke from fire season from California, Oregon, sometimes Nevada too. All of it seems to collect on top of Boise. Inversions are rather common during the winter too.
Oops, forgot the part about what makes it great to live here. Well, less than an hour of driving takes me to the high desert, there is a very small, very old, but still in active use observatory a couple of hours drive from here that does tours on the weekends. Less than an hour drive the other way and I’m in the mountains among the pines. There is a network hiking/biking/some sections allow horses trails that connect the foothills with a large segment of the river (foothills and greenbelt combined is some 200 miles of trails). There are plenty of lakes and rivers for various recreational activities and apparently Boise has a music scene comparable to that of Austin TX
Portland, OR. Like Anchorage, AK, where we moved from, it’s earthquakes and volcanoes. Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens are both active, and the offshore faults cause all manner of palpitations for locals. On slow news cycles, the local stations run another piece about how we’re all doomed. :rolleyes: I figure that if I survived the 1964 Alaska earthquake, I can deal with it.
The advantages to living here are:
It’s a mid-sized city, so getting around isn’t a huge issue. There’s a vibrant foodie, arts and entertainment scene.
It’s an hour from both the coast and the mountains.
There are hiking trails galore, and many, many neighborhood parks that are either natural or manicured for gaming. I live within walking distance of three neighborhood parks and a wetland, and a 42 mile biking/walking trail.
In any given year, I only put about 3,000 miles on my car because of the public transit system.
There are a multitude of wineries and breweries, and the fresh fruit/produce is unbeatable.
Hurricanes and tsunamis. As for tsunamis, we’re a couple blocks back from the beach, and some big buildings are blocking us, so we’re not too worried. Hurricanes are doable for the most part, just gotta hunker down.
Outweighing that is, well, hey, it’s Hawaii. And Waikiki.
Where I live right now is a very pretty coastal town with fabulous surf beaches, yet close enough to Melbourne to visit the big smoke as needed.
Where I am moving to is a mining town full of iron ore dust, social problems and looks pretty damned ugly. BUT, my daughter (we live together, I’m the live-in babysitter) has been offered a wonderful position with her company over there, with lots of lurks and perks and will look amazing on her resume for future jobs.
Plus, it’s a limited contract (2yrs max) and will be an opportunity to live in a totally foreign environment, and for her kids to experience living in a community that is predominantly indigenous. That’s the payoff for the cyclones and the heat.
Montreal. Occasional mild earthquakes, nothing serious. Blizzards of course, but the real danger is ice storms that leave us without power for a week or more. In the 1998 storm, I was without power for week, but some people didn’t get power for a month or even more. That’s scary in the middle of winter. And the city is about to ban oil or gas heating for electric only.
Our most frequent natural disaster in Chicago is the Cubs. Theoretically, we could get tornadoes, but none have landed in the city in my lifetime. So it’s really just brutal winters and brutal summers to worry about.
On the plus side, the food, music, architecture, festivals, and dozens of diverse cultural neighborhoods make it all worth it.
In the house where I grew up in Lexington KY there was a danger of tornadoes, heatwaves (the one in 1980 killed several people), and floods. We actually had a flood and my parents had insurance but the insurance company only paid for structural damage. I don’t know what about the house makes it worth sticking around but my parents are still there.
I live in Albuquerque now, where we have drought, wind, and possible wildfires. I’m not sure why I stay here, as my home is 50 years old and rather ordinary.
Agree with this. California is huge and not all areas have the same risks. I am in the same area as you and fires are probably the biggest concern, but the risk is not huge, and earthquakes and floods barely blip on my radar (although Sacramento is at risk of floods and that would be a problem due to proximity). About the only natural inconvenience I consider is the summer heat, since the winter tule fog banks have all but disappeared of late. The payoff is living in a nice area with many conveniences and miles of bike trails, 90 minutes to SF or Napa/Sonoma or Tahoe or Sierra trailheads.
After the '89 earthquake in the Bay Area some of the banks and financial institutions decided having their data centers in SF was risky, so they moved them to Rancho Cordova, east of Sacramento (but kept HQ in SF), where the risk of natural disasters is tiny.
Low cost of living, and the fact that the disaster potential is pretty close to zero.
We occasionally get earthquakes that register on the seismographs, but never anything that a human can feel.
On rare occasions we get tornado warnings, but in my lifetime, I don’t think any twister has ever touched the ground.
Every spring, half of New Mexico blows over to Arizona. Every autumn, half of Arizona blows over to New Mexico. Occasionally, the winds will do damage, but it’s relatively rare.
A couple of years ago, we got a lot more hail than usual, and it damaged cars and roofs. But that is very rare.
In the summer, it gets to be a hundred degrees in the shade, but our houses are built for it, so it causes less trouble than heat waves in cooler climates.
We get occasional wildfires, but never close to the city limits.
The worst problem is allergies. If you are allergic to mold and mildew, this is a great place to live. If you are allergic to dust and pollen, this is a bad place to live. (The plants are few and far between, and they generate more pollen to compensate.)
On the shore of Lake Michigan: A wondrous watery vista, no sign of the far shore, the waves roar and rumble, the water sparkles from both sunlight and moonlight by turns, the beach is sandy and squeaky, the sandbars make fun goals to swim to!
That compensates for the damn lake trying to eat my house every few decades. 1973, 1986, 1997, and again in 2019 the lake is up and starting to knock at the door.
You do have some amazing storm shutters on the windows, though. If the zombie apocalypse happens you should be in a good defensive position - no need to board up the windows, just roll down the storm shutters!
Apparently climate change is resulting in more, not less, precipitation around the southern half of Lake Michigan.
Apparently, temperatures over 36ºC also count as a natural disaster. In Spain we just call it summer and have a long history of surviving it thanks to porches, botijos and umbrías, even before we started getting a/c. Porches aren’t limited to homes: it is very common for our streets and public squares to be completely or partially porticated.
There were PSAs today in French radio stations about the current high temperatures in much of France, with recommendations to stay in the shadow, keep hydrated and spend time in a/c’d places such as malls, supermarkets, cinemas and bank offices. Botijo: a clay double-mouthed jar which cools the water inside thanks to microevaporation. Should not be lacquered, as the lac prevents it from working.
Umbría: a spot in the open air which the sun never reaches, thanks to the presence of buildings or rocks just south of it. Its opposite is a solana, which is warmed by the sun any time the sun is available.
Denver, CO. Natural disasters: hail, wildfire, blizzard, volcano.
HAIL: Not a huge deal IME. Been here 20 years, got one notable dent on a car from hail. Some folks are not so lucky and get their windows knocked out and roof torn up, but it’s hardly a life-threatening issue.
WILDFIRE: Again, not exactly life-threatening unless you ignore evacuation orders and think you’re going to protect your castle with your garden hose. Also, suburbia. If we’re on fire something has gone seriously wrong.
BLIZZARD: Stay inside, watch TV and the fireplace for 24 hours. Might lose some tree branches but it’s rarely heavy enough to damage a normal roof. I don’t think anyone has died here from blizzard in over a century.
VOLCANO: Hey look, we’re talking about the Yellowstone Caldera. If it pops, we’ll never know.
So basically, we have token natural disasters–you keep your eyes open and you’re generally fine. The climate’s pretty nice, politics are reasonably good for progressives as well as conservatives, and there’s no great social propensity toward oppressive religious nuttery.
