Seeking Warm, Disaster-Free State
A frequently asked question from blog readers is: "Which U.S. state can I live in if I want [insert weather condition here] all the time?" This week, a blog reader from Dubai (who is applying at Universities here in the United States) wants to know where he can live that 1.) Is Warm Year Round, and 2.) Is Safe From Natural Disasters.
The first question is easy to answer, we just need to know what qualifies as "warm" which means we need to know a little about the climate of Dubai. According to WikiPedia, the average lowest daily temperature in Dubai is 14 C (57 F), so that's the number we want to shoot for staying above. Here's a map showing areas that would have above 55 F:
You can get more maps like this in an interactive site by NCDC.
Unfortunately a Dubai-like warmth doesn't cover much of the U.S., so he may want to consider how low he can go in the Winter.
As to the Natural Disasters, I read an article earlier this year about how no U.S. state is safe from Natural Disasters. I couldn't locate that article as of this reading, but I did find this one at Slate which led me to this FEMA Map showing Federal disaster areas from 1964-2000:
The news isn't good - only remote areas of Wyoming or Nevada seem to be disaster-declaration-free. Of course, this map looks somewhat like a population map (long load time), since it's people who are affected that cause the declarations (but the comparison wasn't as bad as I thought). The article also took government weather disaster death statistics into account and the best states were the "small states" in New England, but the author was quick to warn, as I would, that both hurricanes and winter storms can still reach the area. And those are too cold for our friend from Dubai, anyway.
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