Georgetown and Jarrell

[NOTAM]

well the original poster then needs to take that into consideration. thats a BIG savings right there, considering high electric rates in Texas due to deregulation.
i am moving to a very rural town and getting Hamilton Electric Cooperative woohoo!!!

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

We get our electricity from Bartlett Electric Cooperative, and our water from Jarrell-Schwertner Water.

[chickenfry]

I would choose Georgetown if I had children. Jarrell is a very small district which doesn't allow for lot's of course choices. Whether it be advanced placement or a variety of vocational opportunites, that small a school just can not compete.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by chickenfry

I would choose Georgetown if I had children. Jarrell is a very small district which doesn't allow for lot's of course choices. Whether it be advanced placement or a variety of vocational opportunites, that small a school just can not compete.

While I agree (my daughter, now in her 20's, transferred to Georgetown from Jarrell for some of the educational offerings), the Jarrell schools are expanding due to demand (new high school just opened, plans for more new schools).

However, the OP is looking for a place to retire to.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

According to city-data, the following gives the percentage of tornado risk in various parts of Texas based on the overall U.S. average. So actually, the Austin area is better than a lot of Texas.

Jarrell ~ The chance of tornadoes is 95% greater than the overall U.S. average.

Georgetown ~ 90% greater....

Austin ~ 80% greater..........

Houston ~ 150% greater......

Dallas ~ 223% greater.........

Ft. Worth ~ 221% greater....

Waco ~ 142% greater..........

San Antonio ~ 19% greater..

It's important to note that while Houston does have a high tornado risk, most of these are F1 or F0 category; not the monsters that hit more central parts of the country and central/north Texas. I wish stats would note that, because it makes a huge difference.

When we lived in Austin, we had many more scares as far as large tornados. We were there when the monster one hit Jarrell and all that was left was some homes foundations. Talk about scary.
What do we have in Houston? Little ones that may cause minor damage on a few homes/buildings or a few trees. Nothing like Jarrell, or even the one that hit Fort Worth and practically destroyed a few of the downtown buildings.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by AK123

It's important to note that while Houston does have a high tornado risk, most of these are F1 or F0 category; not the monsters that hit more central parts of the country and central/north Texas. I wish stats would note that, because it makes a huge difference.

When we lived in Austin, we had many more scares as far as large tornados. We were there when the monster one hit Jarrell and all that was left was some homes foundations. Talk about scary.
What do we have in Houston? Little ones that may cause minor damage on a few homes/buildings or a few trees. Nothing like Jarrell, or even the one that hit Fort Worth and practically destroyed a few of the downtown buildings.

Yes, I know that's true about Houston. There are other web sites that give the statistics regarding the intensity of the tornadoes, deaths, property damage, and the like. One of them is NOAA.

[TexasHorseLady]

I'm really puzzled, in that I've lived in Austin or the area immediately surrounding for almost 40 years, and I don't remember a lot of "scares" about particularly large tornadoes. In fact, I felt pretty blase about them (our family farm in East Texas having had a "pet" tornado that came down the drive every few years for decades, harming nothing until a tree grew large enough to be in its very predictable path - yeah, weird, I know) until we moved to Jarrell a few months before the F5.

Tornado watches, yeah, but nobody pays any attention to those. Tornado warnings in the immediate Austin area have been few and far between. Out in the Hill Country (San Saba, etc.), I note that there are more of them, but that's a ways away and usually heading northeast.

[Canine*Castle]

Statistics show San Saba to be quite low comparatively speaking. It has only a 14% greater chance than the average U.S. San Saba County has only had 14 tornadoes in over 50 years as compared to 53 in Williamson and 61 in Travis.

I know Real County has only had 2 tornadoes in over 50 years, Gillespie - 15, and Kimble - 3. The Hill Country is well-known for less of them.

[TexasHorseLady]

Well, it's just a general impression. (Didn't have time to go look up stats last night.) As you might imagine, since 1997, we keep a very close eye on the weather, and since our weather tends to come from that direction ("tends" meaning a good 80-90% of our thunderstorms come west to east), we notice more when something's happening over there. What I've been noticing in the past few years is that there's more tornado warnings a couple counties to the west of us (south to north) and down in the Caldwell/Hays county areas (my daughter lives in Apache Shores, so I watch that area, as well) than anywhere else around Austin. Usually the ones to the west of us tend to move towards the northeast for some reason, and the ones down in Caldwell/Hays tend to move down towards La Grange. I'm sure there's great meteorological reasons for this, but I have not a clue what they are.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Well, it's just a general impression. (Didn't have time to go look up stats last night.) As you might imagine, since 1997, we keep a very close eye on the weather, and since our weather tends to come from that direction ("tends" meaning a good 80-90% of our thunderstorms come west to east), we notice more when something's happening over there. What I've been noticing in the past few years is that there's more tornado warnings a couple counties to the west of us (south to north) and down in the Caldwell/Hays county areas (my daughter lives in Apache Shores, so I watch that area, as well) than anywhere else around Austin. Usually the ones to the west of us tend to move towards the northeast for some reason, and the ones down in Caldwell/Hays tend to move down towards La Grange. I'm sure there's great meteorological reasons for this, but I have not a clue what they are.

The only reason I was even knew the stats is because I was / am considering a move to the Hill Country and I told myself that if I stay in Texas, I'm going to a county with less tornadoes than where I am now. Therefore, I did some serious "tornado checking."