4 ms·

Where are these paradisical places with no natural disasters and livable climates?

bcrosby95 3y ago
Um. Maybe Pittsburgh? Appalachia? I'm drawing a blank. Pretty much all of the mid-west is susceptible to tornadoes. The east and southeast to hurricanes. The west to earthquakes. The northeast to those crazy blizzards they sometimes get.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > I'm drawing a blank Because it doesn’t exist. You don’t build a city where you fortress. The oceans that give rise to natural harbours and ports also bring risk of floods and tsunami. Similarly for fertile riparian. The same seismology that raises the mountains which squeeze rain from clouds and provide stunning vistas also level badly-built homes. The risks can be mitigated, but never eliminated. Look at the list of natural-disaster safe cities in America, and find a sea of low GDP per capita [1]. In an unexpected place we find the old adage reaffirmed: risk and reward come together. [1] https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/safest-places-to-live-to-avoid-natural-disaster https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/safest-place...
- shagie 3y ago
  > Pretty much all of the mid-west is susceptible to tornadoes. And some good sized earthquakes too. https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/new-madrid-seismic-zone https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/new-madrid-... // https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34701813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34701813 And from https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/cool-earthquake-facts https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/cool-earthq... > Earthquakes occur in the central portion of the United States too! Some very powerful earthquakes occurred along the New Madrid fault in the Mississippi Valley in 1811-1812. Because of the crustal structure in the Central US which efficiently propagates seismic energy, shaking from earthquakes in this part of the country are felt at a much greater distance from the epicenters than similar size quakes in the Western US. And yes, while the entire west coast is red in the risk category... there is a good sized blob in the midwest. https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/CUShazard.html https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/CUShazard.html
christkv 3y ago
The canary islands
- petre 3y ago
  Cheaper than Hawaii but with roughly the same risks, i.e. your home turning into a lava field.
  - christkv 3y ago
    You can reduce the odds a bit lol Volcanic activity has occurred in the past 600 years on all the Canary Islands except La Gomera, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura Weather there is perfect if you want eternal June :)
    - petre 3y ago
      La Palma volcano erupted in 2021. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-planet-volcano-visitors-spanish-isle.html https://phys.org/news/2022-09-planet-volcano-visitors-spanis... The weather is nice, I'll grant you that. Any Atlantic climate place with volcanoes has nice weather. I'll take the volcanoes over The Nederlands, thank you.
- shagie 3y ago
  And Redwood City! https://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/portal-to-our-past/climate-best-by-government-test-the-story-4529857 https://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/portal-to-our-past/climate-be... https://www.kqed.org/news/11889712/can-redwood-city-really-boast-climate-best-by-government-test-yes-and-no https://www.kqed.org/news/11889712/can-redwood-city-really-b... > "Henry C. Finkler was a bicyclist. And he became, I have to say, fanatically interested in weather. And he recorded, every day he rode down the hill, what the air temperature was, what the winds were, the number of days of rain," Svanevik said. > It’s Finkler who first claimed there were only three parts of the world that had perfect weather: the Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa, North Africa's Mediterranean Coast, and anything within a 20-mile radius of Redwood City.
jbandela1 3y ago
Singapore
Quikinterp 3y ago
Nova Scotia, Canada. We get hurricanes but they're not usually too bad. Not at risk of anything like earthquakes tornados etc
- brookst 3y ago
  Where there are only four months that with average highs >10 degrees Celsius? Where there are was a tsunami with 7m waves less than 100 years ago? I love Nova Scotia but I don’t think it’s the perfectly safe and livable paradise people should apparently move to.
Yajirobe 3y ago
Montana
- vidanay 3y ago
  You've died of dysentery.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Besides dissing Terry you also got blizzards which are certainly something.
ben_w 3y ago
Western Europe, at least. Possibly Australia expect for the forest fires, but that might just be availability bias in the news I see as it's the other side of the planet and hardly anyone (in relative terms) lives there.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Western Europe, at least Western European cities flood, most recently in 2021. The short list of low-risk high-GDP countries is limited to city states and the likes of Hungary, Czechia, Qatar, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Iceland [1]. Worldwide. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_disaster_risk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural...
  - ben_w 3y ago
    With much lower risk and severity. From that list: 4 Luxembourg 0.52% 13 Switzerland 1.03% 88 Germany 3.92% 110 United Kingdom 5.78% 131 Spain 9.68% 168 United States 22.73% Though this does definitely tell me I was wrong about Australia, and that it only looks safe from a distance because the news isn't reporting on it: 164 Australia 21.36%
- petre 3y ago
  You can probably strike Hungary off that list. https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-economies/hungary/economic-forecast-hungary_en https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-e... Hungary is quite nice though. Also, I'll take the Balkans over Western Europe any day. Not Bosnia or Kosovo, but the other EU countries, maybe even North Macedonia or Serbia. Or Southern Italy if you also want to be sophisticated.
- nostrademons 3y ago
  Western Europe is about to get so fucked by climate change. The area is basically unlivable without the North Atlantic Current - geographically the UK/France/Germany are at about the same latitude as Alberta and the Siberian Taiga, Scandinavia is the same latitude as Alaska and the Yukon. They would have similar climate if it weren't for warm Gulf water circulating in the Atlantic. There's evidence that the current is already slowing [1], and the midpoint of estimates for when it might collapse is at 1.8C warming, something we seem pretty likely to blow past within a decade or two. It'd be bad for Australia and the Southwest US as well, since collapse of the AMOC would bring permanent La Nina conditions. [1] https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-change-ocean-atlantic-circulation/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-...
monero-xmr 3y ago
Mid west and north east basically have no natural disasters. But cold winters and hot summers. Depends on your definition of livable. I don’t mind wearing winter clothes in winter and AC in the summer.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Midwest and northeast have flooding, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, etc. Maybe not earthquakes (or wildfires), but I worry about earthquakes and wildfires much less than I used to worry and have to deal with frozen pipes and snow removal and humidity.
  - monero-xmr 3y ago
    Has Chicago ever had a tornado? And a blizzard is really that bad? Nothing compared to an earthquake or a forest fire.
    - brookst 3y ago
      https://wgntv.com/weather/2-tornados-touchdown-in-chicago-area-nws-confirms/ https://wgntv.com/weather/2-tornados-touchdown-in-chicago-ar...
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      It is all subjective of course, but I will take the lower chance of the high severity event over the high chance of the somewhat lower severity event. I have had to dig myself out of snow many times already in my short life and I have been through multiple power outages due to rainstorms or ice bringing down power lines. But I have never had to deal with an earthquake or wildfire (other than staying inside for a few days). And I have been through multiple power outages due to rainstorms or ice bringing down power lines.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > Has Chicago ever had a tornado Yes [1]. It also floods and freezes from its proximity to the lakes and rivers that make it a logistical hub. [1] Has Chicago ever had a tornado
prepend 3y ago
St Louis, Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, albequerque. None of these have the climate of San Francisco, but certainly livable.
- whutsurnaym 3y ago
  IMO, Phoenix is stretching the definition of "livable"
- outside1234 3y ago
  Phoenix and Albuquerque don’t have water
- lostcolony 3y ago
  I was living in Georgia when CNN's building in downtown was hit by a tornado. They're not nearly as bad as in the midwest, but they certainly happen. Mind you, it's a perfectly reasonable place to build up, but the likelihood of getting killed in a tornado over the past 100 years looks to be worse than the likelihood of dying in an earthquake in California over the past 100 years (slightly lower numbers from what I could gather, but dramatically lower population). Phoenix (and Albuquerque but I'm less familiar with the specifics) is in the desert; both the water it gets and the ambient temperature are getting worse due to climate change. There are already legal fights over water rights in the greater Phoenix area, and it's just going to get worse. That is not a place to be building up.
  - shagie 3y ago
    > There are already legal fights over water rights in the greater Phoenix area, and it's just going to get worse. One recent example: https://kjzz.org/content/1847190/scottsdale-wants-governor-veto-bill-resume-water-sales-rio-verde-foothills https://kjzz.org/content/1847190/scottsdale-wants-governor-v... > Scottsdale cut off Rio Verde Foothills from water sales in January due to worsening drought conditions. That left hundreds of homes in the unincorporated community without a reliable water source. > Arizona lawmakers earlier this week sent a bill to the governor’s desk that would force Scottsdale to resume sales, for at least a few years while the community works out a long-term solution. But in a letter to the governor, Scottsdale’s mayor and City Council say the bill penalizes their city for sensible water management. https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2023/05/17/scottsdale-rio-verde-foothills-water-fix-flawed/70225812007/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands... > The bill requires the city to deliver at least 150 acre-feet to its standpipe each year, through 2025, unless outside circumstances reduce whatever source they use for it. And Scottsdale can’t charge Rio Verde Foothills residents more than $20 per 1,000 gallons for that water. And the letter from the City of Scottsdale to the governor: https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Assets/ScottsdaleAZ/News/News+Images/News+documents/Scottsdale+HB2241+Veto+Letter.pdf https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Assets/ScottsdaleAZ/News/News+I...
s_dev 3y ago
Ireland
Hamuko 3y ago
Try Helsinki. I'm not aware of there ever being a natural disaster here. Climate is definitely livable too, although maybe not everyone's cup of tea.
BrotherBisquick 3y ago
Everyone in the replies to this comment are naming places so dark and grim in Winter that I personally couldn't survive there. A summer in the southwest US is easier on me than even a mild winter in the northeast. HN confirmed for Hyperboreans.
- bombcar 3y ago
  When you’re “work-from-underground-bunker” the weather woes of the surface dwellers are not your concern.

Um. Maybe Pittsburgh? Appalachia? I'm drawing a blank. Pretty much all of the mid-west is susceptible to tornadoes. The east and southeast to hurricanes. The west to earthquakes. The northeast to those crazy blizzards they sometimes get.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> I'm drawing a blank Because it doesn’t exist. You don’t build a city where you fortress. The oceans that give rise to natural harbours and ports also bring risk of floods and tsunami. Similarly for fertile riparian. The same seismology that raises the mountains which squeeze rain from clouds and provide stunning vistas also level badly-built homes. The risks can be mitigated, but never eliminated. Look at the list of natural-disaster safe cities in America, and find a sea of low GDP per capita [1]. In an unexpected place we find the old adage reaffirmed: risk and reward come together. [1] https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/safest-places-to-live-to-avoid-natural-disaster https://www.rockethomes.com/blog/housing-market/safest-place...
shagie 3y ago
> Pretty much all of the mid-west is susceptible to tornadoes. And some good sized earthquakes too. https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/new-madrid-seismic-zone https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/new-madrid-... // https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34701813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34701813 And from https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/cool-earthquake-facts https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/cool-earthq... > Earthquakes occur in the central portion of the United States too! Some very powerful earthquakes occurred along the New Madrid fault in the Mississippi Valley in 1811-1812. Because of the crustal structure in the Central US which efficiently propagates seismic energy, shaking from earthquakes in this part of the country are felt at a much greater distance from the epicenters than similar size quakes in the Western US. And yes, while the entire west coast is red in the risk category... there is a good sized blob in the midwest. https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/CUShazard.html https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/CUShazard.html

christkv 3y ago

The canary islands

petre 3y ago
Cheaper than Hawaii but with roughly the same risks, i.e. your home turning into a lava field.
- christkv 3y ago
  You can reduce the odds a bit lol Volcanic activity has occurred in the past 600 years on all the Canary Islands except La Gomera, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura Weather there is perfect if you want eternal June :)
  - petre 3y ago
    La Palma volcano erupted in 2021. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-planet-volcano-visitors-spanish-isle.html https://phys.org/news/2022-09-planet-volcano-visitors-spanis... The weather is nice, I'll grant you that. Any Atlantic climate place with volcanoes has nice weather. I'll take the volcanoes over The Nederlands, thank you.
shagie 3y ago
And Redwood City! https://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/portal-to-our-past/climate-best-by-government-test-the-story-4529857 https://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/portal-to-our-past/climate-be... https://www.kqed.org/news/11889712/can-redwood-city-really-boast-climate-best-by-government-test-yes-and-no https://www.kqed.org/news/11889712/can-redwood-city-really-b... > "Henry C. Finkler was a bicyclist. And he became, I have to say, fanatically interested in weather. And he recorded, every day he rode down the hill, what the air temperature was, what the winds were, the number of days of rain," Svanevik said. > It’s Finkler who first claimed there were only three parts of the world that had perfect weather: the Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa, North Africa's Mediterranean Coast, and anything within a 20-mile radius of Redwood City.

jbandela1 3y ago

Singapore

Quikinterp 3y ago

Nova Scotia, Canada. We get hurricanes but they're not usually too bad. Not at risk of anything like earthquakes tornados etc

brookst 3y ago
Where there are only four months that with average highs >10 degrees Celsius? Where there are was a tsunami with 7m waves less than 100 years ago? I love Nova Scotia but I don’t think it’s the perfectly safe and livable paradise people should apparently move to.

Yajirobe 3y ago

Montana

vidanay 3y ago
You've died of dysentery.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Besides dissing Terry you also got blizzards which are certainly something.

ben_w 3y ago

Western Europe, at least. Possibly Australia expect for the forest fires, but that might just be availability bias in the news I see as it's the other side of the planet and hardly anyone (in relative terms) lives there.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Western Europe, at least Western European cities flood, most recently in 2021. The short list of low-risk high-GDP countries is limited to city states and the likes of Hungary, Czechia, Qatar, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Iceland [1]. Worldwide. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_disaster_risk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural...
- ben_w 3y ago
  With much lower risk and severity. From that list: 4 Luxembourg 0.52% 13 Switzerland 1.03% 88 Germany 3.92% 110 United Kingdom 5.78% 131 Spain 9.68% 168 United States 22.73% Though this does definitely tell me I was wrong about Australia, and that it only looks safe from a distance because the news isn't reporting on it: 164 Australia 21.36%
petre 3y ago
You can probably strike Hungary off that list. https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-economies/hungary/economic-forecast-hungary_en https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-e... Hungary is quite nice though. Also, I'll take the Balkans over Western Europe any day. Not Bosnia or Kosovo, but the other EU countries, maybe even North Macedonia or Serbia. Or Southern Italy if you also want to be sophisticated.
nostrademons 3y ago
Western Europe is about to get so fucked by climate change. The area is basically unlivable without the North Atlantic Current - geographically the UK/France/Germany are at about the same latitude as Alberta and the Siberian Taiga, Scandinavia is the same latitude as Alaska and the Yukon. They would have similar climate if it weren't for warm Gulf water circulating in the Atlantic. There's evidence that the current is already slowing [1], and the midpoint of estimates for when it might collapse is at 1.8C warming, something we seem pretty likely to blow past within a decade or two. It'd be bad for Australia and the Southwest US as well, since collapse of the AMOC would bring permanent La Nina conditions. [1] https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-change-ocean-atlantic-circulation/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-...

monero-xmr 3y ago

Mid west and north east basically have no natural disasters. But cold winters and hot summers. Depends on your definition of livable. I don’t mind wearing winter clothes in winter and AC in the summer.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
Midwest and northeast have flooding, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, etc. Maybe not earthquakes (or wildfires), but I worry about earthquakes and wildfires much less than I used to worry and have to deal with frozen pipes and snow removal and humidity.
- monero-xmr 3y ago
  Has Chicago ever had a tornado? And a blizzard is really that bad? Nothing compared to an earthquake or a forest fire.
  - brookst 3y ago
    https://wgntv.com/weather/2-tornados-touchdown-in-chicago-area-nws-confirms/ https://wgntv.com/weather/2-tornados-touchdown-in-chicago-ar...
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    It is all subjective of course, but I will take the lower chance of the high severity event over the high chance of the somewhat lower severity event. I have had to dig myself out of snow many times already in my short life and I have been through multiple power outages due to rainstorms or ice bringing down power lines. But I have never had to deal with an earthquake or wildfire (other than staying inside for a few days). And I have been through multiple power outages due to rainstorms or ice bringing down power lines.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > Has Chicago ever had a tornado Yes [1]. It also floods and freezes from its proximity to the lakes and rivers that make it a logistical hub. [1] Has Chicago ever had a tornado

prepend 3y ago

St Louis, Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, albequerque. None of these have the climate of San Francisco, but certainly livable.

whutsurnaym 3y ago
IMO, Phoenix is stretching the definition of "livable"
outside1234 3y ago
Phoenix and Albuquerque don’t have water
lostcolony 3y ago
I was living in Georgia when CNN's building in downtown was hit by a tornado. They're not nearly as bad as in the midwest, but they certainly happen. Mind you, it's a perfectly reasonable place to build up, but the likelihood of getting killed in a tornado over the past 100 years looks to be worse than the likelihood of dying in an earthquake in California over the past 100 years (slightly lower numbers from what I could gather, but dramatically lower population). Phoenix (and Albuquerque but I'm less familiar with the specifics) is in the desert; both the water it gets and the ambient temperature are getting worse due to climate change. There are already legal fights over water rights in the greater Phoenix area, and it's just going to get worse. That is not a place to be building up.
- shagie 3y ago
  > There are already legal fights over water rights in the greater Phoenix area, and it's just going to get worse. One recent example: https://kjzz.org/content/1847190/scottsdale-wants-governor-veto-bill-resume-water-sales-rio-verde-foothills https://kjzz.org/content/1847190/scottsdale-wants-governor-v... > Scottsdale cut off Rio Verde Foothills from water sales in January due to worsening drought conditions. That left hundreds of homes in the unincorporated community without a reliable water source. > Arizona lawmakers earlier this week sent a bill to the governor’s desk that would force Scottsdale to resume sales, for at least a few years while the community works out a long-term solution. But in a letter to the governor, Scottsdale’s mayor and City Council say the bill penalizes their city for sensible water management. https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2023/05/17/scottsdale-rio-verde-foothills-water-fix-flawed/70225812007/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands... > The bill requires the city to deliver at least 150 acre-feet to its standpipe each year, through 2025, unless outside circumstances reduce whatever source they use for it. And Scottsdale can’t charge Rio Verde Foothills residents more than $20 per 1,000 gallons for that water. And the letter from the City of Scottsdale to the governor: https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Assets/ScottsdaleAZ/News/News+Images/News+documents/Scottsdale+HB2241+Veto+Letter.pdf https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Assets/ScottsdaleAZ/News/News+I...

s_dev 3y ago

Ireland

Hamuko 3y ago

Try Helsinki. I'm not aware of there ever being a natural disaster here. Climate is definitely livable too, although maybe not everyone's cup of tea.

BrotherBisquick 3y ago

Everyone in the replies to this comment are naming places so dark and grim in Winter that I personally couldn't survive there. A summer in the southwest US is easier on me than even a mild winter in the northeast. HN confirmed for Hyperboreans.

bombcar 3y ago
When you’re “work-from-underground-bunker” the weather woes of the surface dwellers are not your concern.