With hurricanes in mind, does anyone else wish we'd get some big storms once in a while? (Seattle: transplants, Valentine's day)

[Sobefobik]

Thanks everybody for answering. I guess what MollyM313 says is true...I haven't really experienced any storms, and I've always lived in the Northwest. My parents have talked about the Columbus Day storm a little bit, but they were just really small kids at the time. Maybe I ought to move to the Southwest where I can at least get some thunderstorms.

[sll3454]

Originally Posted by Sobefobik

Thanks everybody for answering. I guess what MollyM313 says is true...I haven't really experienced any storms, and I've always lived in the Northwest. My parents have talked about the Columbus Day storm a little bit, but they were just really small kids at the time. Maybe I ought to move to the Southwest where I can at least get some thunderstorms.

The Southeast is where you want to be.

[jaboyd1]

Live on the coast and you'll experience storms. The aleutian low spins of storms that can dwarf hurricanes in scale. As an example, last year I remember one that was 840 mb. To compare Irene never really got below 940 mb.

[hdwell]

Take my word for it- You don't want hurricanes.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Sobefobik

..I haven't really experienced any storms, and I've always lived in the Northwest. My parents have talked about the Columbus Day storm a little bit, but they were just really small kids at the time. Maybe I ought to move to the Southwest where I can at least get some thunderstorms.

Apparently you need a change of scenery. (did you miss Mt St Helen's? Wind / floods / ice / wildfires in PNW)
The west Columbia Gorge in SW WA offers adequate variety but very few crashing thunderstorms / tornadoes. We do get plenty of 'silverthaws' and 80 mph winds with freezing rain (and flying lawn furniture / roofs / trees). Broken limbs (the size of trees)... My kid hit a 3' dia x 100' tree than crashed to the road right in front of him in the dark of night. Our home is often completely covered in ice, and you need golf spikes to walk outside.

And true, the SW is not great on Thunderstorms, you need the SE or Midwest. Colorado mtns get them everyday in summer at 3PM for about 15 minutes. Lightning starts lots of fires (saw 13 start in one afternoon).

You could be well served by doing disaster recovery with FEMA or volunteer teams. (Med teams Intl and Mercy Corps are good and local.)
Medical Teams International | Hope is On The Way
Visiting the MCNW Office | Location | Who We Are | MercyCorps Northwest (this is a great 'realistic' visitation)

The devastation that nature can do is very humbling. (and yes it can happen here). I encourage you to get out and see the world, a wealth of education awaits.

[Hemlock140]

Watch what you wish for, you may get it. We do have some nasty ones already though. In early 2007 we were without power for 5 days in 20 degree weather after the big windstorm blew over a lot of power poles.
I remember spending close to four hours driving from Sammamish to Bellevue, with all the signal lights out, and only 2-3 gas stations running
on the eastside. That was bad enough for my adventurous side.

[Bill Loney]

Originally Posted by scirocco22

Me too, no thanks. Not only do I remember the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 but we also had some other "doozies" through the years.

The one where I sustained the most property damage was the Inaugural Day Storm of January 20, 1993. No thanks, don't want to go through that one again either.

Lost 1/2 my roof in that storm, had to replace several footing in a fence and it destroyed an expensive patio table.

Fortunately I was insured.

[Lamplight]

Having grown up with bad storms, and having a tree fall on my truck, and having my house damaged in a storm and having to deal and hassle with insurance companies to get them to actually pay for things they said they would, no thanks. And then there's also this, which I won't forget any time soon:





(crappy cell phone pictures during and after)

In Tennessee we'd get quite a bit of damage from storms every single Spring, sometimes more than once, and occasionally again throughout the Summer and in Autumn. And of course there's the yearly floods, several every year, and the occasional tornado. While in some ways that stuff is all kind of interesting, it's a huge pain when you have to actually deal with it. And that's assuming it doesn't kill you!

[mrslovettstailor]

WE moved here from michigan in June and love the weather here but I admit I will probably miss thunderstorms. What I think people seem to be forgetting is a thunderstorm doesn't have to be huge winds and devestating floods or anything of the kind. Just a nice hard rain with some nice rumblings thrown in That I will miss, I will not miss excessive winds, the constant tornados the early spring had brought with it, high heat, unbearable humidity and -10 weather with endless snow!

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Apparently you need a change of scenery. (did you miss Mt St Helen's? Wind / floods / ice / wildfires in PNW)
The west Columbia Gorge in SW WA offers adequate variety but very few crashing thunderstorms / tornadoes. We do get plenty of 'silverthaws' and 80 mph winds with freezing rain (and flying lawn furniture / roofs / trees). Broken limbs (the size of trees)... My kid hit a 3' dia x 100' tree than crashed to the road right in front of him in the dark of night. Our home is often completely covered in ice, and you need golf spikes to walk outside.

And true, the SW is not great on Thunderstorms, you need the SE or Midwest. Colorado mtns get them everyday in summer at 3PM for about 15 minutes. Lightning starts lots of fires (saw 13 start in one afternoon).

You could be well served by doing disaster recovery with FEMA or volunteer teams. (Med teams Intl and Mercy Corps are good and local.)
Medical Teams International | Hope is On The Way
Visiting the MCNW Office | Location | Who We Are | MercyCorps Northwest (this is a great 'realistic' visitation)

The devastation that nature can do is very humbling. (and yes it can happen here). I encourage you to get out and see the world, a wealth of education awaits.

You know, I actually wasn't even thought of yet when Mt. St. Helens blew...I was born in 1987. But I would have loved to see it! That's actually a great idea to volunteer in disaster recovery and be able to see the world a little bit. There's got to be more out there than the PNW!

I think some people on here are misinterpreting what I'm saying...a real doozie to me would probably be minor to someone else since we get nothing around here. I'm just talking about a powerful thunderstorm, relatively high winds...that sort of thing. I don't mean floods where people are displaced from their homes, or houses blown 2 miles away because of a tornado. I just mean overall "active" weather, not this constant "flat" weather. If I could handle the heat and humidity down in the SE, I wouldn't mind giving it a try.