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I have always wanted to move out west from Chicago, but it needs to be a small town, not another urban area. I was seriously consider western south dakota if I had a dome home built. I don't want to build any weak structure in a tornado-prone area.
Western South Dakota actually isn't prone to too many tornadoes. Our highest season is in June-July and we will get about 3 tornado watches at the most. I have lived in South Dakota for 18 years and I have never seen a tornado; not even once!
Eastern South Dakota gets a few from time to time. A really bad one happened in Spencer in either '97 or '98. That's pretty much the only time we've had a MAJOR tornado in my lifetime.
A dome home is very interesting. An artist from Spearfish is renown for having a dome home and painting globes. You must both share a love for spheres!
Danny is right~if you check the above site, you'll see that the Rapid City area has a 53% LESS chance of a tornado then the national average. It's about the same throughout the entire Hills area. But yes, eastern So. Dak. does have a few tornadoes now and then. MOST of them are of the lower scale, but we have had a few F-5s, too. The Hills area has a semi-arid climate so tornadoes aren't a huge concern out there.
I'm interested in the Dome home thoughts. I've heard a lot of good and bad about them. And UncleHarley, the walls are straight inside.
The thinking behind a geo is that air circulation inside is so good that it literally cuts your heating and cooling in half. But my thought is, why can't a person get creative and do the same with a conventional home?
Of course, the geo draws heat throughout the entire day, evenly. Not just the East wall in the morning or the West wall in the afternoon/evening. But that could be bad in the summer couldn't it?
Back on track. I lived in South Dakota, particularly Rapid city and the surrounding areas and I saw 3 tornado's from 1965-1972. The first one was in the Robinsdale area, came straight down Elm street. Was a small one. Tipped over trash, tore up some car ports, busted some windows with flying debree but really didn't endanger any person or any houses.
The second one was up by Hill City. Rustled up some trees but again didn't really endanger any life.
The third one was about 3 miles from Rockerville, over by the Methodist Church camp. That one was nasty. It took mature pine trees that were in excess of 100 ft tall and twisted them off at the ground. It dropped trees about a quarter mile wide and about 3 miles long. Course, it did that on the ridge tops, the houses, or church camp that were in the bottom of canyons were not effected.
But that was it. They're pretty small in nature. The one on Elm street, I watched from my backyard. I lived on Willow. Look at a map and you'll realize I was one street over. Looked like a big whirlwind to me.
Have you ever been to Roma's Italian Restaurant in Spearfish? They have a HUGE poster on the wall of an F5 tornado coming into Spearfish from the Black Hills! It is seriously one of the best photos I have ever seen in my life! What a rare sight! I'll have to find it and post it.
Have you ever been to Roma's Italian Restaurant in Spearfish? They have a HUGE poster on the wall of an F5 tornado coming into Spearfish from the Black Hills! It is seriously one of the best photos I have ever seen in my life! What a rare sight! I'll have to find it and post it.
Yes, that would be interesting to see. Please do post it when you get the chance.
Don't confuse the Geodesic home, which is pretty much flat panels fitted in an overall round pattern with the actual monolithic dome, which is 100% round. This is the wave of the future. If I can have one built, I can live anywhere, even western south dakota.
Don't confuse the Geodesic home, which is pretty much flat panels fitted in an overall round pattern with the actual monolithic dome, which is 100% round. This is the wave of the future. If I can have one built, I can live anywhere, even western south dakota.
Now you give me homework.
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It is seriously one of the best photos I have ever seen in my life! What a rare sight! I'll have to find it and post it.
I am not interested in Geo
