Pittsburgh a good place to avoid bad weather? (McKeesport, Washington: house, neighborhood)

[MathmanMathman]

With the rash of bad weather that hit the Midwest and South recently, seems these systems lose a lot of their punch by the time they reach Pittsburgh. This maps suggests that Pittsburgh might be among of the better spots.



Plus a small risk for a quake. It may be often cloudy and sometimes cold, but not so bad for natural disasters.

For us in Atlanta, most of the bad stuff is just to the north of the city and Alabama seems to get pummeled. Scenes like this are common in Georgia

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01321/tornadoJC3_1321534l.jpg (broken link)

And we're not even in the bad spring weather season yet.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

With the rash of bad weather that hit the Midwest and South recently, seems these systems lose a lot of their punch by the time they reach Pittsburgh. This maps suggests that Pittsburgh might be among of the better spots.

Plus a small risk for a quake. It may be often cloudy and sometimes cold, but not so bad for natural disasters.

For us in Atlanta, most of the bad stuff is just to the north of the city and Alabama seems to get pummeled. Scenes like this are common in Georgia

And we're not even in the bad spring weather season yet.

It seems like the risk for tornadoes drops considerably once you get into the mountains. I can only remember one time, back around 1985, that a tornado hit Somerset county or anyplace else beyond the first ridge of the Alleghenies.

[bradjl2009]

We appear to be in the second lowest for risk of natural disasters. It appears the least risk for extreme weather is in the Northwest and Upper Midwest. I actually think that's a little surprising because of the extreme cold and significant snows that are common in the Upper M. and there is somewhat of a risk as earthquakes and occasionally volcanoes in the Northwest (obviously not to the level of Cali but still higher than other places).

[I_Like_Spam]

Pittsburgh is definitely at risk for tornados and microbursts.

We had a couple around 1997 on the same day.

There was a tornado up on Mt. Washington- caused considerable damage near Virginia and Merrimac and went east of there and ripped up the roof at St. Henry's Church on Arlington.

There was also another one, a microburst, cut through the 10th ward of L'ville and took out a lot of trees in Allegheny Cemetery near sections 25 and 26 and people couldn't get to some of their graves for a while.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

We appear to be in the second lowest for risk of natural disasters. It appears the least risk for extreme weather is in the Northwest and Upper Midwest. I actually think that's a little surprising because of the extreme cold and significant snows that are common in the Upper M. and there is somewhat of a risk as earthquakes and occasionally volcanoes in the Northwest (obviously not to the level of Cali but still higher than other places).

Yeah, I was thinking that it was because severe earthquakes are very infrequent.

[Craziaskowboi]

Pittsburgh is not immune to tornadoes. In fact, there's historically been more tornado activity in western Pennsylvania than anywhere else in the Northeast.

June 23, 1944: F4 in Canonsburg
June 23, 1944: F4 in McKeesport
August 3, 1963: F3 in Glassport
July 11, 1976: F3 in Latrobe
June 3, 1980: F4 in Vandergrift
May 31, 1985: F3 in Beaver Falls and Evans City

And those are just the strong ones. There have been many more rated F0 through F2 in the region, including the F1 in the city of Pittsburgh in 1998, and the F2 in Hempfield Township last March.

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Yeah, I was thinking that it was because severe earthquakes are very infrequent.

The Pacific Northwest is actually at very high risk for severe seismic activity. The North American and Pacific Plates slip past each other in California, which means that the most severe an earthquake could possibly be is ~8.0 on the Richter scale. The Juan de Fuca Plate, however, subducts under the North American Plate in Washington, and subduction zones are always where the strongest earthquakes are. The 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964, and the 9.0 earthquake in Japan last year, were both centered along subduction zones. And isn't it neat how Mount Rainier and Mount Fuji look so similar to each other? There's a reason for that: subduction.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

There was also another one, a microburst, cut through the 10th ward of L'ville and took out a lot of trees in Allegheny Cemetery near sections 25 and 26 and people couldn't get to some of their graves for a while.

I remember this in 2002. I was 11 and a lot of trees were down in the neighborhood and the side of an old church also collapsed. Luckily though my house was one of the few in the neighborhood with power.

[North Beach Person]

Nowhere that gets thunderstorms is immune from tornadoes. One went through Forest and Warren Counties 20 or so year ago and killed several people (I knew a couple of them).

Even here in the Land of Pleasant Living (SoMD) we get them.

More likely are microbursts.

[gg]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

This maps suggests that Pittsburgh might be among of the better spots.

Correct. Pittsburgh is no doubt in a perfect area for all kinds of issues. No tornadoes to speak of, no real quakes, if there was a global flood, we can retreat to mountain areas. Great place for those that fear the elements. I get a kick out of people that think we have wild weather. Oh my, we had a tornado 20 years ago! Yeah a couple of trees and whatever. Nothing like they see in those storms the other day in the midwest. Please.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Correct. Pittsburgh is no doubt in a perfect area for all kinds of issues. No tornadoes to speak of, no real quakes, if there was a global flood, we can retreat to mountain areas. Great place for those that fear the elements. I get a kick out of people that think we have wild weather. Oh my, we had a tornado 20 years ago! Yeah a couple of trees and whatever. Nothing like they see in those storms the other day in the midwest. Please.

Agree. Tornadoes can hit pretty much anywhere, but the US is tornado central. Pittsburgh is relatively low risk for twisters, but they can happen here.