Neoso, Joplin which is safer? (St. Louis, Springfield: crime, how much, house)

[Lady Morgandy]

We are currently looking to relocate to the Newton county area next month and I had heard a few things about a great deal of tornados in Joplin and was just wondering if Neosho was any safer...I have two very young children and want to find the best place for our family in the area.

Any suggestions?

[misplaced1]

"Joplin-area historical tornado activity is above Missouri state average. It is 161% greater than the overall U.S. average."

"Neosho-area historical tornado activity is above Missouri state average. It is 158% greater than the overall U.S. average."

Is what city data has to say about the two places. I'd make sure you have a basement you feel safe in to ease your mind a bit either way.

[Lady Morgandy]

Thanks for the info...not sure how much at ease I'll be though, lol. I need a nice affordable town with no tornadoes and no earthquakes or hurricanes....do they even make those anymore?

Do you happen to know how that compares to St. Louis?

[misplaced1]

Originally Posted by Lady Morgandy

Thanks for the info...not sure how much at ease I'll be though, lol. I need a nice affordable town with no tornadoes and no earthquakes or hurricanes....do they even make those anymore?

Do you happen to know how that compares to St. Louis?

I'm not sure the safe and affordable town exists.

City data says this about St. Louis.

"St. Louis-area historical tornado activity is slightly above Missouri state average. It is 143% greater than the overall U.S. average."

I do believe areas of Missouri have less of a tornado risk, parts of the Ozarks being some. I had some research but I've since changed computers and am not sure where to find it off the top of my head.

I moved to NW Missouri after having spent most of my life on the west coast and Colorado and the storm warnings were quite a shock to me.

Here, I found a site for you and it should help you a bit. These are Tornado's by county for the years 1950-1995 and it gives you a very good idea of what, where and what F scale the tornado's that occured were. Check out the counties you might be interested in.

OK the link was just going to the main page so here's where to go...

On the left of the page in dark yellow click on "all tornado's"
then click on the red "every state in the USA" that you'll find near the top of the page that comes up.
then click on the state of Missouri and look up the county.

The Tornado Project Online!

Hope that helps you some.

[Mollym313]

Originally Posted by Lady Morgandy

We are currently looking to relocate to the Newton county area next month and I had heard a few things about a great deal of tornados in Joplin and was just wondering if Neosho was any safer...I have two very young children and want to find the best place for our family in the area.

Any suggestions?

Really...I think when it comes to tornadoes, Joplin and Neosho rank pretty much the same. For the most part, we don't get many. Most that do touch down just tear up stuff out in the rural areas not causing much damage. However, there has a been 2 that I know of that has caused deaths.

I have been in the Joplin area for 20 years and have never seen a tornado. The best piece of advice by a previous poster is to get a basement and a weather radio.

[joetownmom]

As far as tornadoes go, Joplin and Neosho would be about the same. Both have been hammered more than usual the past few years. I have a basement; would not have bought my house w/o it but I'm picky about that because I'm a tornado survivor, left at age thirteen with the blue jeans I was wearing and little else.

As far as safer otherwise, it's a toss up. Joplin is bigger so you hear about more crime - like the guy who tried to rob the USB bank there yesterday and claimed he had a bomb which caused the nearby Northpark Mall to be locked down, SWAT Teams in the parking lot and all.

But Neosho has crime, too....like the church shooting about two years ago.

[Lady Morgandy]

Thanks for all the feedback....after some research and a lot of looking around for a place, we finally settled on Branson instead since at least we have some mountainlike terrain and scenery...we'll see how it goes, we're moving this weekend!

[Christian Missouri boy]

Welcome to Missouri , dont let the fear of tornado's worry you too much. Always be cautious to the weather, of course. As others have said, the threat of tornados is here, but the longer you spend here, you will realize how to deal with it. We have tornado sirens, news updates and other various ways of making sure we stay safe during bad weather. As long as I have been here, I have never heard of a "movie looking" tornado that tears up entire towns and stayed on the ground for miles and miles. Most are very small tornados, many times rain wrapped and to anyone in it, would seem like a really big gust of wind until the weather people confirm it was indeed a tornado. Anway, I enjoy Branson a lot everytime I visit there and I hope you do too! Real nice people down that way and Springfield is a nice old city real close to Branson.

[northbayeric]

No worries at all about hurricanes, being so far inland. Once in a very great while, southern Missouri might catch the remnants of a hurricane that hits the Texas Gulf Coast and that might mean a lot of rainfall and 25 to 30 mph winds. No big deal usually.

Earthquakes are something you can never really predict. I think SW Missouri should be pretty safe from one. There isn't too much very hilly terrain separating St. Louis from the New Madrid fault in far SE Missouri by the bootheel, so if and when we get another huge event like the one back in um, what year was that....here it is...late 1811, that would almost definitely impact St. Louis severely.

I remember that a twister clobbered the little town of Pierce City, Missouri not too far from Monett, a few years back. Thankfully the U.S. National Weather Service does a fine job giving people enough advance notice to take protective cover. Most of the time the area just receives thunderstorms.

I think you and your children are going to enjoy the Branson area greatly! Let us know how it all goes when you can.

[Lady Morgandy]

Thanks guys!

We made it here....finally! Now we have to try and some furniture (if you know of a good used furniture store around Branson let me know) and unpack. And ironically enough...there is a tornado warning tonight lol. Is that a sign or something?

So far I like the area, we have a nice view that I can't wait to see in the fall and winter, so much better than the parking lot view of our last place lol. And everyone seems a bit more laid back here. And I missed the mountains and greenery so it's nice to see that again.

Now to get settled in....and on to the next post for that