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The Low Down
Obviously one of the biggest reasons to move to the United States is for the weather. I've lived all over Canada and there is no place that I found tolerable year round. During the times that are tolerable you have this innate fear that it's not going to last forever. When fall comes around you get those days that have a slight sharpness of cold in the air and you know winter is just coming. Even when it's summer you get one or two days of clear sunny weather, and then the clouds form and you get two days of rain. The weather report on TV always makes remarks on "weather" or not the nice sunny days are going to coincide with the weekend. People are so desperate to enjoy what little good weather there is they'll wear shorts in 10 degrees celsius temperature during fall as they try to cling on to whatever there is left of summer. Even during summer the humidity is so high that you barricade yourself inside the house with the air conditioner struggling to battle the heat and pump out the moisture. If your car has been sitting in the sun all day you blast the AC only to get a stream of blow dryer hot air, your tapes and CDs suffer damage from the massive heat, and the steering wheel is impossible hot to touch. You can't drive with your windows down, otherwise you'll get drenched in sweat. In any case your back melts against the seat and gets sticky anyways. Changing clothes a lot during summer is a way of life. Then comes winter, where the heater battles the arctic cold with temperature dropping down to -50degC when you factor in the wind chill. You start your cars 5 minutes before leaving in the morning so that it warms up to a driveable level. You plug in the block heater at night. You try to keep in mind not to brush against the car as you walk by it otherwise the salt+muck film will get on your clothes. Dress shoes are impractical, so you either not wear them at all, or have spare shoes as your destination. When outside you do ridiculous things like blowing hot air into your gloves to warm up your hands, or blow air against your jacket collar to help warm up your nose. Your lips dry out and crack, so you're constantly peeling the dead skin off, or laying down an endless supply of lip balm. Sports cars are locked up in your garage while you drive your sacrifice vehicle. The vehicle that you choose to have the salt and gunk collect on, forming rust, eating away at the exhaust system, body, and paint. You try to battle rust by washing it every so often, but only 5 years pass by before you start seeing those tell tale signs of bubble rust forming under the paint. Some people actually like extremely hot and humid summers, and some like cold and the snow. If neither is an issue to you, then weather is a not a factor in you deciding on moving to the United States as you have your pick of all kinds of climates. Others however may prefer one, but rarely does one like both types of extreme climates. This causes seasonal depression disorder, and is something I suffer from somewhat. When there is constant extremely harsh weather I become frustrated, angry, and feel overwhelmed with anxiety. The anxiety comes from the fact that there's nothing I can do about it (the weather), and I feel that the weather is controlling me. Feeling like a caged animal doesn't make me happy. I want to go out and do whatever I want to do on any given day. I don't want to have to hope for good weather. I don't want to be limited on what I can wear because of the weather. I hate the fact that weather can limit my options. Now obviously that's within reason. But as long as the weather isn't harsh I'm happy. That was the first thing I noticed when I visited the California Bay Area. It was non-stop clear skies, slight cool breeze from the ocean, and a warming comfort from the sun. I could drive with my windows down and be completely contempt. It can get really hot here, but even when it does, the fact that the humidity is so low makes 90F/32C feel good. This dry temperate weather makes me feel calm and relaxed, which is one of the biggest draws of California. The high cost of living here is a total supply and demand situation as people are willing to pay a premium to live here. The good thing about the United States is that you have options when it comes to weather. You decide what type of environment you want to live in. If you like temperate weather focus on the mid to north west side (Northern California to Washington). Southern California gets even more hot and a bit more tropical, but places like Santa Barbara and San Diego have unbelievable weather. More dry and more hot you want to check out Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. If you enjoy extremely humid and hot weather investigate places like the mid south to the south east. Places like Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. For the winter loving folks you want to take a look at the central United States, up to the mid east. Utah and Colorado are well known for their skiing. For those who really like the Canadian style of yearly temperature and seasonal changes you have the entire east coast and mid west (Chicago, Detroit, Boston, New York, etc…).
Tornado Alley Note that the U.S has a zone called "Tornadoe Alley." Tornadoes in the United States occur most frequently in ten states. Otherwise known as Tornado Alley, the states involved are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. In the southern states the peak time for tornadoes occurs between March and May, and again in November. In the northern states the number of tornadoes peak during April and June. Common to all of these ten states is their location. They all lie to the east of a line which runs from Nebraska to Texas, marking the boundary of the Great Plains. Weather systems develop over the Great Plains resulting in severe weather patterns. The topography of these states is such that masses of warm moist air, termed tropical maritime air, sweep up from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea due to a lack of mountain barriers. During the spring months, the earth begins to warm, which adds to the layer of warm moist air which is close to the ground. While this is occurring over the Central Plains, cool dry air masses, termed maritime polar, often sweep in from the north or northeast. This cool air is trapped in by the Rocky Mountains and rides close to 10,000 feet above the warmer air below. The jet stream, coming from the west, acts to mix the already unstable air within the turbulent atmosphere.
According to Lutgens and Tarbuck, authors of "The Atmosphere," there are 770 tornadoes reported per year in the United States. Although tornadoes occur during every month of the year, the months of greatest activity in the United States occur between April and June. The months between December and January are reported to have the least tornadic activity. "Typically, 54% of all tornadoes take place during the spring. Fall and winter, on the other hand, together account for only 19%" (Lutgens, Tarbuck). The average tornado travels at around 45 kilometers per hour, follows a path of about 26 kilometers long, and has a diameter of between 150 and 600 meters. Most tornadoes move toward the northeast, within the zone of southwest winds, and form ahead of a cold front, which is associated with the narrow, vertically developed clouds tornadoes form in.
Hurricanes Well everyone knows what a hurricane is. The south east part of the United States is particularly vulnerable to these hurricanes that form in the Atlantic ocean off the Gulf of Mexico. There's been a lot of press during the summer about the billions of dollars in damage they cause, and the people they kill. There's even movies made about them (eg The Perfect Storm). From what it seems via observation, as long as you don't live right against the coast you'll generally be ok against extremely severe damage. The areas shown on the map reflect the number of hurricanes per 100 years expected to pass within 75 nautical miles (159 km) of any point in the colored regions. The highest-risk area (red line) shows where 60 hurricanes per 100 years skim up the east coast. The high-risk area would see 40-60 hurricanes per 100 years, and the moderate-risk area would see 20-40 hurricanes per 100 years. The period of observation is 1888 to 1988.
Fires When summer is in full swing, it's fire season. Because in the West is doesn't rain for months on end forests and large areas of land become extremely dry allowing for wild fires to occur. It's something that happens every year, and some years are worse then others. It's also very cyclical, areas that were burned out last year aren't going to be much of an issue for years to come as all that has to regrow. The States also conducts controlled burns to minimize the amount of fire damage that happens. I've yet to actually know someone that has been affected by these fires, but it's worth noting that it is a potential threat to those living deep into open spaces surrounded by nature. Here's just an example at the amount of damage (mostly to forests) by the top 10 fires of 1999:
For a complete summary of the wild fire situation visit the National Fire News for a perspective on a national level.
Earthquakes Earthquakes aren't caused by weather, but might as well include it since we're on the topic of natural disasters. The west coast because of the mountainous terrain is of course seismically active. The last really big one was in 1989 where a part of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco was damaged. The major faults are extremely close to the edge, so the anticipation that some people have about a part of California falling into the ocean when the 'big one' hits would result in only a small portion of Northern California falling (like 30km from the Coast). However the San Andreas goes more East as you go South, so over in L.A there will be some issues. The big one will hit one day, it could be tommorow, or a hundred years from now. The most I've ever felt was a small tremor, I thought it was a truck driving by. Personally I'm waiting for a good earth quake to hit, I think it's exciting. But it's a risk you take living on the West coast. The following map shows the seismic activity risk in the United States:
For more information visit the National Earthquake Information Center.
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Produced by Tariq Ahmed, Email at tariq@dopejam.com.
Copyright 2008 by DOPEJAM.COM. All information is freely distributed.