What is the RISKIEST Region in the US as the Climate Changes?

Moving to Florida to escape climate change is about the least thought out thing I’ve ever heard, changing out fires for hurricanes

As a Minnesotan, my personal mantra I say to myself whenever I find myself outside in windchill -40 has been “we don’t have earthquakes, we don’t have hurricanes, we don’t have alligators.” I can deal with snow and cold knowing that the infrastructure of my city is built for exactly that.

Growing up in Salem, Oregon, I would get frustrated with the seemingly endless season of rain. I recall many 4th of July celebrations being rained out. Then we'd have a few good weeks of sunny weather, and by the time Labor Day rolled around, it was raining again. I even recall summers that didn't feel like summer at all. But now it's becoming more common to have summers with temperatures in the triple digits, months of barely any rain, and a smoky haze from all of the surrounding wildfires. Past me would never have predicted that I'd someday look at the ten-day forecast hoping for rain.

I moved to Maine in 2021 to get away from the inevitable worsening drought and exhaustion of water resources in my home state of Arizona. Glad I did! I'd say my assessment was accurate. Maine is also getting warmer so the winters are more mild currently then they ever were historically.

Another thing to keep in mind when thinking about safest areas to live is the government of each state. Which states will invest in shoring up infrastructure to protect against climate change and which will just let key infrastructure fail even if it costs lives (ex. Texas)

I am a survivor of the Paradise, California Camp Fire of November 2018. Every adult living there back then should have known that the town was at high risk of burning completely down. It now has my vote for the highest risk community in the US, because they are rebuilding in EXACTLY the same place and the same way as before . . . we will never learn. UPDATE: I want to thank all the people who expressed empathy for me and the other survivors/victims of this tragedy. I'd also like to thank those people who have added thoughtful comments about how we as a nation could make more sensible decisions regarding where and how we build our homes. For those people who found it necessary to express their neurotic or psychotic delusions and fantasies in a YouTube comments section, my advice is simple . . . get help.

Awesome job! I have been waiting for this kind of analysis for at least 10 years. I live in Philadelphia, PA, on the top of a Ridge line, and count myself very lucky given all the misery we are seeing. Thank you for doing this. Keep it coming!

I moved from Texas to South Carolina — but not to the coast. I’m in Greenville, which is near the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Since we are on the backside of the mountains, we miss the tornadoes and wild weather that go up from the Gulf of Mexico. We are not near the coast, so we avoid the hurricane risk. It is also slightly cooler here.

Frankly, the biggest risk here is to people who can’t afford to move and it’s a shame that we’re not talking about that more.

My wife and I left Los Angeles two years ago and moved to Upper Peninsular Michigan primarily due to wildfires and dwindling water. We now live 3 blocks away from 3% of the world’s freshwater supply. I grew up in TX, went to college in AZ and lived in LA for almost 25 years. Not even close to retirement age and we decided it was time to bail. Don’t regret it at all.

Chicago is looking really really good and one of the reasons I moved here 5 years ago. It also has incredible economic opportunities and is incredibly affordable with amenities not found in most other US cities. We keep building densely and robustly which has kept pricing pretty stable. Lake Michigan is a huge fresh water source that can also produce flooding, but it’s not because of the same reasons as ocean rising. The lake’s total level is relatively controllable via the Chicago River and the huge lock that sits at the mouth of the river and the lake.

Would love it if, in a great presentation like this, you also include information about how to make a region more resilient by restoring some of the natural features of the landscape and other low tech means

After my degree, my partner and I chose to move back to Michigan. It has a depressed economy and bleeds people every year... but every time I watch one of these videos, there is a bit of comfort that we are in a climate resilient area. We bought our house not thinking about the next 5 years, but the next 50.

Last year, I moved from Raleigh, North Carolina to western Massachusetts, which is more climate resilient. The amount of deforestation taking place in North Carolina, along with the resultant flooding from stormwater runoff, was the last straw for me. You have to think not only about climate change, but also how each individual state deals with environmental concerns. In North Caroina, the environmental laws are weak, allowing developers to deforest large parcels of land, even destroying stream buffers, with little to no consequence. I had to take out FEMA flood insurance after loggers removed 300 acres of trees upstream from me for a mega-subdivision.

I live in Tucson, and I’ve been wondering the last few weeks just how much longer people will be able to exist here. Plants, pets, A/C systems, etc. will make it a tough decision even before it makes it to lethal levels.

When I moved to northern Nevada the risk was officially 'low' because nobody considered that the smoke from California wildfires would cross the Sierras and then lodge in the Great Basin. 2019, 2020, and 2021 were horrible years in which I had to shelter in place and run an activated charcoal air purifier in order to breath without particulate matter impacting my health. Normally autumn is our best season but the smoke is now likely to ruin that. Yet I note the same experts here are ignoring the Canadian wildfires which blanket the Midwest & elsewhere with wildfire smoke. So I don't believe any area of earth is relatively safe from climate change -- we're all at risk.

As a native Floridian. Our family moved to New England in 1992. Winters were tough -20, but today we hardly see that type of weather. We made our own work. I felt we made the right decision years ago.

Doesn’t anybody notice that Hawaii and Alaska are part of the US but are rarely mentioned in programs like this about the US?

I'm moving from Central Oregon to Eastern North Carolina next summer for economic reasons and to be closer to family. I grew up in Florida (Cape Coral, actually) and have lived all over the East Coast up to Western New York. Now that I've seen many sides with blizzards, fires, and hurricanes, I'd much rather live near hurricanes again. They move slower, so it's easier to escape, and having asthma, smoky summers are unbearable in CO. When you're poor, you don't have many options, unfortunately. Thank you for this video.

Living in Western New York state I've often thought I'd love to move somewhere that has less taxes. My parents retired to Florida @1975... I was still in college in NY but spent most holidays with them in Sarasota, Fl.... I loved it there! But, when my mother passed away in 1984 and was buried there I was shocked by the amount of beach erosion I saw... And after watching this show I'm more convinced than ever that I'm perfectly happy where I am. Yes, we do have blizzards and wind events are certainly stronger but, the blizzards haven't been as extreme as they once were. Plus, I'm used to them. We're prepped by having plenty of food in the house. We have many solar powered items... The one thing we need is a better heat source for when the power is out for an extended period. But we have plenty of winter clothes we can pile on in layers, a gas stove we can keep on if necessary. We even have tents we can set up inside and keep our body heat together. I know this area very well since I've lived here for 52 years. Hopefully keeping an eye on the weather will keep us prepared and safe. My 10 year old Grandson loves letting us know the weather reports. I hope he'll be a meteorologist some day... We're going to need them more than ever!