relocation, wichita. tornadoes (Kansas City: renting, job market, tornado)

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

There's an opening in Wichita for my husband's company, and I'm trying to keep an open mind on Wichita.

I was raised in NE Iowa, it's downright cold, miserable, humid, 6 months of winter pretty much there, with horrible summers. I lived in IL and now IN. So midwest is pretty much what I know. I'm not overly fond of Midwest.

I actually hated living in Iowa. And I'm afraid that Wichita is going to be an Iowa, albeit much larger than the town I lived in, with more things to do. But same type of people and weather.

I see there are museums, a zoo, there are groups for homeschooling and Mom's. There aren't any real Whole Foods or Trader Joes (all of which I utilize now). But hey, I've never thrown a town under a bus for not having a Whole Foods.

My biggest concerns is the actual weather. Weather, for me, is important. If I could, I'd live in Seattle/Washington, and I KNOW that KS does not have Washington weather. I'm at peace with that.

But, I'm afraid of tornado activity. How often are sirens going off? Prime-time TV interrupted by serve weather? Is there a tornado annually in Wichita/surrounding area? If I move there, do I pretty much just need to realize that I am going to be in a tornado... cause I lived in Iowa, and they've all missed me, towns just miles away completely destroyed, but I've never been in one (and I'd like to keep it that way.)

It's the biggest thing that has kept us from applying for the relocation. The tornadoes, extreme heat in the summer (is it really that bad?), and extreme cold in the winter (is it really horrible?). I've lived with Minnesota type winters most of my life, I'm not sure how KS compares to that?

Is there any suburbs that are in a valley so to speak? A valley that doesn't get flooded all the time?

Should we just pass this relocation on by?

Well, I don't think Kansas is known for its great weather. Most times, I hate the weather here, and we're northeast of Wichita. I'm from Chicago, so I know the kind of wintters you've had in the Medwest. Last winter was just like a Chicago winter here, but I'm told that's very unusual. This summer has just been downright hellishly hot. We were stuck inside because of the heat so often I said it might just as well have been winter.

As for tornadoes, see for yourself in this Tornado Statistics interactive map:
TornadoHistoryProject.com - Tornado Maps and Database
It allows you to get statistics for a 59 year period (1950-2009) by state and county, and it also gives you some detail on each event. Look for statistics for Sedgwick County, KS.

[rooch]

Originally Posted by knrstz

I don't disagree with what you said, but if the OP finds areas of Iowa not to her liking, I don't think Wichita will be that different. If she just wants something new, Wichita might be great. But even though Kansas doesn't border Iowa, it probably shares more in common with Iowa than say Colorado from the front range west.

i'd agree with this. I will say--I don't mind the seasons here--I've lived in Michigan, Wisconsin (I like 4 seasons and snow) along with Atlanta--which was deathly hot...here is hot -- but you at least get a semblance of winter. Tornadoes aren't really a huge deal although my wife gets panicky any time the sirens go off. I think I've been actually concerned ONCE in my 16 months here.

There's certainly a whole foods store on the west side--and I'm sure probably more on the east side considering the college hipster population over there.

Overall though--I'd say this is a microcosm of small town america and boring as all hell...if you dislike Iowa--I can't see you liking any place in Kansas really. Wichita is a very conservative place if that's your cup of tea--fine--not really mine's...

I like the school system--very good on that front. You don't have to pay for private schooling for your kid to get a good education (from what I've seen in elementary school anyways).

So there are some positives if you don't mind boredom and sacrificing a ton of things to do potentially...

[knrstz]

The whole foods in Wichita aren't the same as the national chain whole foods market. From what I understand it's owned locally and had the name before the chain was established. The quality really isn't on par with a whole foods market. Suprisingly, the Dillons' marketplace at Central and Rock has a great organic selection for a large grocery store. FYI, to the OP'er, Dillons is a local store that is now part of the Kroger chain. I find it better than the Krogers I've been to in Texas.

[BKellyS]

Hard to tell if you will like it if you are not fond of the midwest / plains. We definitely have weather extremes, but usually broken up by milder days. I would like to report, however, that I have lived in Hutchinson and Wichita for 49 years and I have NEVER seen a tornado. Granted, I've always lived "in town" where visibility is limited, and there have been a few that have hit some (outlying, mainly) areas of town over the years, but I have never seen one or come close to being "taken out" by one. Maybe a couple of times a year on average we will have tornado warnings / sirens but usually they are not that close. Can't say it won't happen to you though, sorry! Just make sure you have a basement or storm shelter and you will be fine. And stay out of the trailer parks, they are tornado magnets

[cp1969]

I tempt fate every time I say this, but I've lived in Kansas almost all my life and I've never even seen a funnel cloud, let alone a tornado.

[platoshadow]

It only takes one, In 93 and F5 wiped out Andover. There were three tornados this spring in west Wichita. They do not call it tornado alley for nothing. The museums you talk about are ok for a one time visit but you would not want to make an every weekend out of it you would be wasting your gum, and there are only two, the Museum of world treasures, good little museum but once you have been there not worth a trip back for at least a year or more. The Wichita Art museum is ok but same thing and not very big really. The crime is there, its in and around central Wichita for the most part but its there. Not saying its not in other cities but Wichita has crime. Most people do not want to live in Wichita, Most people want to live in one of the bedroom communities in Goddard, Andover, Rose Hill or Derby. Wichita is not as desirable as these places.

Schools go number one Andover, two Goddard, three Derby, its all downhill from there. Most people with money who live in Wichita put their kids in some private school. Its not a good city, its boring and little to do. They had a chance to put in a casino and the Jesus freaks pushed it out. The city is dividing up into Asian sections, Hispanic sections and Black sections. If you can move anywhere else I would opt for a city that you may want to even stay in for a longer time. Most people who are here are only here for work, and plan to move out once they retire. They have this stupid saying here to try to make it seem not so bad, Wichita a great place to live but I would not want to visit, what the hell that is supposed to mean. Old town has a few things that go on like a blues crawl ect. but its few and far between. I can't wait to move out of this area. Politically its split with about half neo con religious nut jobs who shoot Drs at church and the other is more of a progressive democrat base. Go outside of Wichita and its fat old white farmers who think god makes the crops grow and are willing to sacrifice the male calf while reading from Revelation to make it rain

[athfo]

Originally Posted by platoshadow

Its not a good city, its boring and little to do.

I'm so sick of hearing this. I completely disagree.

[knrstz]

Originally Posted by platoshadow

It only takes one, In 93 and F5 wiped out Andover. There were three tornados this spring in west Wichita. They do not call it tornado alley for nothing. The museums you talk about are ok for a one time visit but you would not want to make an every weekend out of it you would be wasting your gum, and there are only two, the Museum of world treasures, good little museum but once you have been there not worth a trip back for at least a year or more. The Wichita Art museum is ok but same thing and not very big really. The crime is there, its in and around central Wichita for the most part but its there. Not saying its not in other cities but Wichita has crime. Most people do not want to live in Wichita, Most people want to live in one of the bedroom communities in Goddard, Andover, Rose Hill or Derby. Wichita is not as desirable as these places.

Schools go number one Andover, two Goddard, three Derby, its all downhill from there. Most people with money who live in Wichita put their kids in some private school. Its not a good city, its boring and little to do. They had a chance to put in a casino and the Jesus freaks pushed it out. The city is dividing up into Asian sections, Hispanic sections and Black sections. If you can move anywhere else I would opt for a city that you may want to even stay in for a longer time. Most people who are here are only here for work, and plan to move out once they retire. They have this stupid saying here to try to make it seem not so bad, Wichita a great place to live but I would not want to visit, what the hell that is supposed to mean. Old town has a few things that go on like a blues crawl ect. but its few and far between. I can't wait to move out of this area. Politically its split with about half neo con religious nut jobs who shoot Drs at church and the other is more of a progressive democrat base. Go outside of Wichita and its fat old white farmers who think god makes the crops grow and are willing to sacrifice the male calf while reading from Revelation to make it rain

I love it when people steretype and say that they are so much more open minded than others. Do you by chance see the irony? Which group of worthless people in wichita do you fall into?

[BKellyS]

Originally Posted by platoshadow

There were three tornados this spring in west Wichita.

Yes, they rebuilt west Wichita three times since spring. Jeez you just get your house up and here comes another one !
Actually, for a sense of perspective:
Average tornadoes fatalities per year in Kansas: Fewer than 3
Average traffic fatalities per year in Kansas: Over 400
Kansas population is about 2.8 million. So your chances of dying from a tornado in a particular year are literally one in a million.

[hacker]

Weather leaves a lot to be desired and nothing to do. They do so little to promote things here. Its a crap city and I can't wait to move to where things are ten times better. If you can save the trial and error, move to a nice city, wichita aint it.