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Comment by monero-xmr | Hacker News Reader

Mid west and north east basically have no natural disasters. But cold winters and hot summers. Depends on your definition of livable. I don’t mind wearing winter clothes in winter and AC in the summer.

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Midwest and northeast have flooding, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, etc. Maybe not earthquakes (or wildfires), but I worry about earthquakes and wildfires much less than I used to worry and have to deal with frozen pipes and snow removal and humidity.

Has Chicago ever had a tornado? And a blizzard is really that bad? Nothing compared to an earthquake or a forest fire.

https://wgntv.com/weather/2-tornados-touchdown-in-chicago-ar...

It is all subjective of course, but I will take the lower chance of the high severity event over the high chance of the somewhat lower severity event. I have had to dig myself out of snow many times already in my short life and I have been through multiple power outages due to rainstorms or ice bringing down power lines.

But I have never had to deal with an earthquake or wildfire (other than staying inside for a few days). And I have been through multiple power outages due to rainstorms or ice bringing down power lines.

> Has Chicago ever had a tornado

Yes [1]. It also floods and freezes from its proximity to the lakes and rivers that make it a logistical hub.

[1] Has Chicago ever had a tornado

This source seems to be rotating faster and faster and causing a looping funnel …

Flooding in Chicago is its own pretty interesting story.

https://slate.com/business/2019/01/chicagos-deep-tunnel-is-i...

Chicago is in the midwest. It has multiple each spring.

Chicago can feel earthquakes too. https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/CUShazard.html

https://earthquaketrack.com/us-il-chicago/recent

And for blizzards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Groundhog_Day_blizzard https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-blizzard-2011-snowmageddon-b... (it's just that in the midwest people know how to prepare for blizzards and the city services have the tools) and yet...

> At least 36 deaths were reported to be related to the storm, many of them in shoveling or auto-related incidents, and the total damages were US $1.8 billion.

For your tornado question: https://www.weather.gov/lot/sigchitorn

> There were 92 significant tornadoes in the 8 county Chicago metro area between 1855 and 2008.

> The deadliest tornado occurred on April 21, 1967 during an outbreak of 5 significant tornadoes. A violent F4 tornado formed in Palos Hills in Cook County and traveled through Oak Lawn and the south side of Chicago. 33 people died and 500 people were injured by this 200 yard wide tornado that traveled 16 miles and caused over $50 million in damage.

> The most recent significant tornadoes occurred on June 7, 2008 over Will and Cook Counties.

> The only F5 tornado to ever strike the Chicago area was on August 28 1990. This tornado formed near Oswego and passed through Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet. The tornado killed 29, injured 350, and caused $165 million in damage along a 16 mile path.

A tornado within the city limits of Chicago is pretty rare, but tornados within 100 miles of Chicago are quite common.

https://www.weather.gov/media/lot/severe/chitorlist.pdf

https://www.weather.gov/lot/sigchitorn

There is evidence that large buildings (cities) actually discourage tornado formation (which is why they like to eat trailer parks).

But Chicago is in an area that gets tornadoes - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LnkMSmLc6mM

The great appeal of San Francisco is that you don’t have to think about what you’re going to wear at least 300 days of the year. If you’re outdoorsy at all it’s very hard to go to the rest of the US and feel trapped inside. Unfortunately for me, family moved there after I moved to be close on the west coast, so I get to experience that 2 weeks every year.

I would also dispute “no natural disasters”. There are serious winter events in those regions (and crazy floods depending on where you are in the Midwest) that happen basically yearly.

I don’t think any part of the world is without significant tradeoffs, you just have to find the ones that matter to you.

Nothing is without trade-offs. We hardly notice the ones that come naturally to us.

Native New Englander here, married a Californian. My wife likes to say that "Every winter in New England is a natural disaster" whenever I bring up moving back.

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