Questions about Austin (West: fit in, rent, crime rate)

[xomgaponyx]

Hello! I live in California and I am moving to Texas over the summer. We're trying to find the safest area possible as well as somewhere that we and our horses will be happy
I'm curious about what it's like in the Austin area. Are there tornadoes? Floods? Anything like that someone should know about?
I mean we're used to nothing going on, weather pretty much the same all year, definitely no tornadoes, never very much rain, no humidity, very little hail, etc..
We don't expect to find somewhere the same as here but we wanna get the closest possible..And I decided to look at Austin because I saw on a tornado alley map that it was in an area with few tornadoes..
Thanks =)

[jread]

Originally Posted by xomgaponyx

Hello! I live in California and I am moving to Texas over the summer. We're trying to find the safest area possible as well as somewhere that we and our horses will be happy
I'm curious about what it's like in the Austin area. Are there tornadoes? Floods? Anything like that someone should know about?
I mean we're used to nothing going on, weather pretty much the same all year, definitely no tornadoes, never very much rain, no humidity, very little hail, etc..
We don't expect to find somewhere the same as here but we wanna get the closest possible..And I decided to look at Austin because I saw on a tornado alley map that it was in an area with few tornadoes..
Thanks =)

Most areas of Austin are safe. The crime rate is well below the national average.

Tornadoes are extremely rare and usually stay way outside the city.

Flash flooding is a big problem here (when it actually rains). The terrain is hilly with very shallow soil, so there isn't anywhere for the water to soak in.

We have hail sometimes, but it isn't that bad.

It's more humid than California but nowhere near as humid as the eastern half of the country (especially compared to the Gulf Coast).

The weather is generally the same all year here as well. It's always sunny and hot for most of the year. We get more rain than Southern California, though, and nobody seems to know how to drive in it.

[fil]

Hail hits Austin, but the other nasty stuff looks like it stays West, North, and Northeast.

As for horse stuff in Austin, check this out: Horse Soccer -- Tonight! (http://austin.craigslist.org/com/336728126.html - broken link)

Now, that's disposable income and people with not much to do.

I think you'll fit in.

[Jazzedforhim]

Now that would be fun! My horse was just put down yesterday...won't have another for a while...but I see you can rent one...that would be...umm...interesting to watch! Love it!

[malarkey]

Originally Posted by Jazzedforhim

My horse was just put down yesterday...won't have another for a while...

Sorry to hear that J...