Hurricane Andrew 1992, Hurricane Katrina, 2005 .  Hurricane Rita 2005, Hurricane Gustav 2008.  Tornadoes, Wildfires, Drought... What do all of these have in common?  

None of them are in Austin, that's right, NONE of them. Are your investments safe in Austin?  YES, YES and YES.

CHECK REAL-TIME AUSTIN WEATHER HERE

We all hope and pray for the people affected by these weather tragedies, but at the same time we have to breathe a sigh of relief that we are not going through the absolutely unbearable sadness of losing a home or worse, losing a loved one due to persistent destructive weather.

Tragic weather is not always what decimates a neighborhood, or worse, an entire suburb.  Wildfires can do that easily enough.  Anyone familiar with the Santa Anna Winds knows very well they drive a lot of the wildfires in southern California. Entire towns evacuated, homes and dreams destroyed.  Evacuations also happen due to invisible threat of landslides forming because of intense dry weather, drought, lack of foilage and unfortunately improper construction and drainage.

Austin isn't perfect, so what weather do we get?

HEAT (YES):  It gets HOT out here during the summer, occassionally spilling over 100 degrees for several days, but then we return back to our usual 95 degree summer average. Probably the biggest weather complaint we get here is that our heat is a humid heat, unlike other areas that are hot and have a 'dry' heat.  We are not as humid as coastal areas like Houston where the humidity upon leaving your house has been described as stepping into a warm shower with your clothes on!  Austin has very mild summers with occassional heat spikes.

DROUGHT (OCCASIONALLY):  On rare occassions, about once in a ten year span, we do see prolongued lack of rain.  The longest period without rain was 35 days in 2006, however, we have the Colorado river and many other rivers that run near Austin.  We've never been in a "drought" as you would think with tumbleweeds and dust blowing in the wind.  Austin has plenty of water even during drought conditions.  Austin is very water-conscious, we conserve regularly.

RAIN (YES):  Aside from the heat we get our typical Texas size thunderstorms, but anyone here knows that these blow by incredibly quick.  We have a saying out here, "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes". Some summers we get way more than we need! 

HURRICANE (NO): Austin is nestled in the center of Texas, far away from any coastal dangers.  Yes we get some rain whenever a major hurricane rolls through, but that's all, nothing but the usual moderate weather that we love so much around here.

TORNADO (NO): Austin is not located in any "tornado alley" that you would normally find in north Texas or the heartland.  The closest most recent tornado was in Jarrell about 45 miles northeast in 1997, this particular tornado was extremely rare.  (I'm an Austin native and I've personally never seen a tornado except on TV).

HAIL (OCCASSIONALLY): Austin does get hail damage on occassion.  Out of 10 large thunderstorms in the year, we might see 2 of them that bring some hail.  But hail is not a city-wide danger, hail only damages very sharp cross sections of a neighborhood.  On one side of the street you'll see typical hail damage such as roof, window and fallen brush, while the homes across the street receive no damage whatsoever.  Hail is very surgical and not a major threat at all, in fact it is always well taken care of by your insurance provider.  We have another saying about hail, "If you need a new roof, pray for a hail storm"

All in all, over 95% of our days are sunny with clear blue skies throughout the year.  Our lakes and rivers are under control with dams and good drainage. When Katrina, Rita and now the lastest Gustav hit, where did the President go to oversee FEMA opeartions?  Austin, that's where.  Austin is also ABOVE sea level, by about 700 feet!

So, rest easy knowing that your homes, friends and family are safe in Austin.