Tornadoes??? (Scottsbluff, Valentine, Merriman: tornado, earthquakes, live)

[BadgerNut]

I'm from Wisconsin and thinking of moving to Nebraska. What is the weather like over there? Are there any places least likely to receive tornadoes? Isn't Nebraska part of the tornado alley?

[tpabes]

Weather is a little bit of everything. Can get cold in the winter, hot in the summer and we a pretty windy state. Nebraska is part of tornado alley, here is a site that gives great tornado stats for the state:

TORNADOES

[SCGranny]

Sigh. we moved to Cherry County, which was supposed to be the least tornadic of the counties in NE. Then this year, suddenly out of everywhere and nowhere, came tornadoes from Merriman to Valentine, and all around Merritt Dam (South of Valentine)! We never saw one, but we did see the formative clouds; totally AWESOME to watch them swirl and bulk up and dance. One person had the tornado hit their house, open the back porch, open the freezer, and suck all of their food out of the freezer and sent it all across the yard and into the neighbors' yards (so the story went). No other damage.

I like weird weather; grew up in hurricane areas, saw the devastation of Hugo in Charleston and surrounding areas. I love watching and being out in a powerful storm, and the winds here are amazing - 50 mph last week, and no storms accompanying them! We get summer hail here, and I've been told how high the snow gets; can't wait to see. The weather here is changeable and does it FAST. But it beats the heck out of earthquakes and sudden volcanoes - both of which terrify me. Because there's no escape, I guess, and because of the fires and ash that make it hard to breathe, much less see...

So if wild storms and suddenly black and turbulent skies are not your cup of tea, then perhaps you need to think about that... but I have found one can get used to anything. My cousin lives where the Santa Anas stir up fires in CA, and has earthquakes frequently, and has yet to have to rebuild. Everywhere you go there will be SOME sort of Mother Nature's influence. The movie "Twister" was great fun, but the special effects were overdone and not completely real...

Oh, tpabes, it isn't hot here! LOL ;-> "HOT" is 100-120 deg with 100% humidity - for three months. We don't even need A/C here!

[soundforlanguage81]

I lived in Scottsbluff in the mid-90's and I remember many days in mid-late summer where the temp shot over 100 degrees, but the humidity is generally low, and it's windy 75% of the time. Perfect weather for me. I remember a few tornado watches, but never any warnings or actual tornadoes. I guess on the high/treeless plains the worst thing you have to worry about is lightning...

[IsThisOneTaken?]

Here is an interesting table from UNL. It ranks the counties on "tornado density."

I always thought of the panhandle as being relatively tornado-free, but Scotts Bluff County ranks 7th! Of course, Hall is 1st!

nebraska-tornadoes-county-density-2004

And Nebraska is definitely a "four season" state. We get 'em all. Snow, 100+ degree days, wind, rain, sunshine...