"tornado alley" Des Moines X Wichita X Oklahoma City

[lovecrowds]

I would choose Wichita out of the three but is right in the middle of tornado alley just like Oklahoma City. So as far as tornado risk both Wichita and Oklahoma City are right in the middle-of-it.

I have never been to Wichita, but I would never choose Des Moines and have been there several times.

If one was moving based on risk of tornados than Des Moines has far less frequency of tornado than the others.

Wichita is certainly very close to Oklahoma City when it comes tornado risk. Supposedly, Kansas has more tornados per square mile than Oklahoma but I would assume over the years Wichita proper has had less tornados.

Des Moines really doesn't have nearly as high of risk of tornados and when they do have a tornado they are more EF-0 or EF-1 tornados that aren't on the ground long and usually don't cause much damage.

Any where on the plains can have a big tornado all the way from the Canadian border to Texas but Oklahoma and Kansas have the perfect recipe for tornados.

Des Moines though is very expensive compared to Oklahoma City and Wichita. Much higher home prices and very high taxes compared to Wichita and Oklahoma City.

Iowa is poorly run in my opinion with it's incredibly high taxes and other then good education the services are extremely low. Poorly maintained roads and infrastructure when I went through there over several occasions.

At least in Kansas and Oklahoma they get mediocre services for very low taxes.

Des Moines also is nearly 15 degrees cooler during the winter than Wichita and 20 degrees cooler than Oklahoma City.

Des Moines has a relatively chilly spring compared to Wichita and Oklahoma City

They have a some nice temperatures in the summer in Des Moines, but they are get some of the highest dewpoints in the country in the summer.

[kcmo]

I personally much prefer Des Moines over both OKC and Wichita.

Des Moines doesn't have near the extreme weather that OKC or even Wichita has. They do have some pretty harsh winters, but I like snow.

Wichita is sort of a dump just like everything else in Kansas except Johnson County, Lawrence and Manhattan. The city just feels completely dead to me. Downtown has a few tiny pockets of life, but for the most part it's just not a very vibrant or progressive place. The only thing people talk about in Wichita in a positive way is the little nearby suburb/small town of Derby, which tells you a lot about what's going on in Wichita.

OKC is growing and changing, so that alone makes it better than Wichita, but the culture there is just way too conservative and southern. The landscape and topography is just bad and extremely dangerous or destructive weather is just way too common.

Des Moines is a pleasant place, with a nice and relatively urban and vibrant downtown core. The city is pretty liberal, the landscape is lush and green. There are some great urban neighborhoods near downtown. They have pretty extensive recreational infrastructure like bike trails, bridges etc. And they are closer to cities I prefer to be close to like MSP and Chicago and Kansas City.

For the size of the metro, Des Moines is a pretty nice city, so if I had to choose between these three, it would be a no-brainer for me. Des Moines.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

I would actually take Des Moines over the other two if not for the cold winters.

Given that, Id go with OKC.