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In looking at those maps I never realized how high the St Louis was
Also as someone mentioned earlier it seem lessor earthquakes can do more damage on the EC, that relatively mild one about 4 or so years ago did considerable damage and I know even though was in VA we felt it pretty strongly in Philly pretty far away (actually made me dizzy for a few minutes, even dropped my whisky)
Yeah, the New Madrid is going to do significant damage to St. Louis and Memphis when the next big one hits. The quakes in 1811-12 were 10x stronger than the SF earthquake of 1906. The Mississippi even ran backwards for a time due to the quake, and church bells rang in cities as far away as Boston.
St. Louis' brick construction isn't predicted to fair well
In looking at those maps I never realized how high the St Louis was
Also as someone mentioned earlier it seem lessor earthquakes can do more damage on the EC, that relatively mild one about 4 or so years ago did considerable damage and I know even though was in VA we felt it pretty strongly in Philly pretty far away (actually made me dizzy for a few minutes, even dropped my whisky)
It was a tremor. Philly will get some regional flooding, the occasional severe thunderstorm, an ice storm once in a while. It's not that bad.
Houston is right in the middle of hurricane country, and gets flash floods often. They also get tornadoes on occasion. Austin is probably much safer in that regard.
Regardless, if you move to anywhere in Texas, be ready to embrace long, hot summers. The winters are also wishy washy, as it can be anything between 20 and 80 degrees during that time, but are still much milder than most parts of the country.
There is indeed the hurricane risk that exists in Houston that Austin does not really have... but then again, there is a lot of prep-time involved with hurricanes that allow people to fortify homes and belongings, evacuate, and otherwise prepare to the point that damage and loss of life is minimized.
As far as tornadoes and flash-floods, it can actually be argued that Austin has the higher risk of damage from both events. Because of all the hills/topography, there exists much more of a gradient for which flash flood waters can rush down and cause damage in Austin compared to Houston, which is on a flat landscape, and therefore lacks such a gradient. As far as tornadoes, one of the few F5 tornadoes ever to strike Texas occurred quite close to Austin. Other than that, though, both cities don't really have to worry about tornadoes.
I don't really call winters "wishy washy" for Texas, especially for the southern/coastal areas of the state; that term implies that both cold and warmth have an equal chance of happening during winter, quite inaccurate for the areas of the state I mentioned, which remain mild/warm and sunny for the majority of the winter season.
Thanks about the map! Yeah, I've done some research and the Twin Cities always come up. Houston and Austin also sound nice as they'll probably have that Southern feel. But how are they with tornadoes? I am scared mostly of quakes and tornadoes. I don't care about floods or fires that much.
You had mentioned you came from a cold environment and wanted milder weather. Minneapolis is likely as cold or colder than Bulgaria. In fact, only Moscow and maybe Harbin in China are colder major cities. However, earthquakes are a non-issue there and tornadoes -- although not uncommon -- are rarely deadly that far north.
I don't think tornadoes are a major issue in Austin or Houston but I am pretty sure Austin is at least within the "Tornado Alley" portion of the US, but I can't say for certain without looking up a map.
In looking at those maps I never realized how high the St Louis was
Also as someone mentioned earlier it seem lessor earthquakes can do more damage on the EC, that relatively mild one about 4 or so years ago did considerable damage and I know even though was in VA we felt it pretty strongly in Philly pretty far away (actually made me dizzy for a few minutes, even dropped my whisky)
Yep, St.Louis can be prone to earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, radioactive waste contaminations, riots, shootings, brown recluse infestations and the Cardinals choking in the playoffs. Fk it.
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