Considering a move to NE Oklahoma any advice?

[vanet]

As the title says, we are thinking of moving. For us moving will be a MAJOR deal. We have lived here 16 years and have a very well established HS. Solar power, wind power and a vast array of livestock. We are set-up to live very inexpensively. We own three houses that we bought as junk and fixed up to rent. We own a business that is well established in town. Why are moving?? It boils down to weather. We have a 90 day growing season. It drops down to below 0 ten to 20 times a winter, and winter is very long. I am about to turn 50 and the wife is about the same. We figure if we sell everything, with what we have in the bank, we can have a big enough nest egg that we can retire, and devote all our time to building the perfect place. We are thinking if we dont do it now, we wont have the strength in a couple of years. The problem is we just arnt sure where. We have considered Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma. We are looking for a 4 season climate, with the lows in the 20's instead of below 0, and the highs in the 90's instead of 110. We would like to live somewhere that gets enough rainfall on average that not too much irrigation is required. Northeastern OK seems to fit the bill. Does anyone have any first hand experiance with the area or can think of another area that would work. Thanks in advance for the input.

[kimmom2five]

Um it gets to both 0 and 110 in NE OK.

[Big Dave]

Get a place with a live creek, river or lake. It does not say where you currently live. The area you are talking about is at the ne corner of where I live. Lot of micro climates. Over all lot of severe weather.Right now we are haveing a drought. About 11 inches under anual rainfall. Stressing out alot of trees. It is a different world from where you are. People are in general nice. Go online and read the area papers and or real estate advertisments. Just my .02

[vanet]

We live in the mountains of AZ. As for the weather, I looked at the average and record temps for the area in and around Tulsa, and the 20s are normal lows for the winter and the low 90s are normal highs. I realize all places have freak strorms, but when we have a freak cold spell it drops to 30 or 40 below 0, and regularly gets below 0 at least 20 times a winter. You mention a drought that you down 11 inches a year in rainfall. We only get 11in total. The area I reasearched in OK says average of 36" a year in rainfall, with almost none of it coming in the winter. So even in a drought, you are way ahead of us. I plan on diverting my grey water, and catching rain water just like I do know. Just hopeing for a LITTLE help from mother nature.

One thing my wife is worried about is tornedos. To me they would be preferable to our spring winds, which start in late Feb. and go through June or July (they really never stop, just reduce) pretty much blows 20 to 30 miles per hour all the time with gusts over 100 regularly. My business has plate glass windows rated for 150mph winds, and they have been blown out 3 times in the last 16 years. What other people call a hurricane, we call spring. LOL The joke around here is the early settlers stoped in this valley and hunkered down to wait for the wind to stop blowing and they are still waiting.

[wwubben]

Would it work for you to just move to a lower elevation right there in Arizona?

[vanet]

Originally Posted by wwubben

Would it work for you to just move to a lower elevation right there in Arizona?

Not really an option. AZ has low rainfall every where. It consists of the mountains, and then drops off quickly to the desert. You have the option of really hot, or really cold, and all of it drive. Besides it take just as much effort to move 200 miles as it does 3000 miles.

[FarmboyBill]

The last 2 years it has hit 120 here, and been over 100 for a month. This is in Bristow Okla, 35 miles SW Tulsa

IF you can fine an ever flowing creek GOOD LUCK. Your right it seldom gets in the teens here, and then only for a day or so. Lately we have had clod snaps that lsat a few days, then it bounces right back up to the 50s again,..
When you find a place, see if you can get an homestead exemption. Thatll help with taxes.

Check the land over CAREFULLY.. Walk down any road that adjoines it, and look in the grader ditches for rock.. There are huge boulders here, some 30ft dia surface. I dont have any on my 20, but next door neighbor has a few.
Understand that we have lost alot of rainfall in the last few years. THAT MEANS, youll have to grab on quick and get a feel for the weather, and plan on planting a month earlier than any seed catalog suggests.

IF your going to farm, Find a place that has the acreage you want to farm FLAT. You can get 2 crops here oin the same land a year.

Move your house and outbuildings in amongst as many trees as possible, and start takeing them out as they get in the way. You want ALOT of shade around your house and outbuildings, as, i the middle of summer, youll find yourself working in the shade as much as possible, and going from shady spot to another to work as the sun courses around throuout the day,

[Wanderer0101]

Been looking at property in that area for the lst couple of years and I believe it gets pretty close to what you're looking for. It does get a little hotter and a little colder than your quoted numbers but most of the time it falls within the range you are looking for. Pretty reasonable prices for the most part. I'd look for something along the Illinois River around Tallequah. Big enough town to give you most of what you need and if you need more it's not that far to Tulsa or some of the bigger towns in Northwest Arkansas. Nothing wrong with Northwest Arkansas or Southwest Missouri either. Very similar properties available in both areas. Quite a few rivers and creeks as well as lakes so it's not too hard to get on the water if that's important to you. Bottom land near a river is a whole lot easier to grow things in than rocky hillsides. Be sure and drive the area to locate any nearby commercial poultry operations, best to stay away from them, especially if they are upstream.

[Vickie44]

It seems that the entire eastern coast could fit your bill. I live in NY .Beautiful place , 4 seasons, no tornadoes , last frost around end of May , first late October . Enough rainfall that I only have to water the garden when plants are young . Taxes and traffic here are tough, I would think PA MD TN VA etc would be perfect

[belladulcinea]

I don't mind tornadoes, as long as you've got a storm shelter you are good to go. We aren't far from any of the lakes here, we are about 20 minutes west of Tahlequah. We are the foothills of the Ozark mountain range and I wouldn't live anywhere else. Land is reasonable and so is housing. Branson, Eureka Springs and lots of things to do just a couple, 3 hours away, boating, fishing and hunting all right here.

As for the weather, it's not that bad! And our growing season is very good, March through the middle of October usually.

[okiemomof3]

i love oklahoma! i am NW of Tulsa about 30 miles or so. the land prices go down the farther you get from Tulsa and since you don't have kids to worry about school systems, etc. you are good to go!

If you are really worried about Tornados, just have an underground tornado shelter (aka 'fraidy hole) put in. They range in anywhere from 2500 to 3500 complete installation depending on what company you use. You will almost always have at least a 5 minute warning if there is one your area. if you live rural, you will want to get the weather service phone call and/or text alert system that will call you when a tornado is within 5 miles of your location, because you won't be close enough to hear the sirens.

you can be within 30 minutes of a lake in any direction feel like heading in the winters are pretty mild and they get bad, it is only for a couple of days, like the previous poster said.

[PrairieBelle22]

I love Oklahoma. These last few years it has been getting way to hot for my comfort, but, hopefully that will pass soon enough.

Oklahoma is a red and conservative state. Even the democrats here are conservative. People here are very friendly and generally eager to help their neighbor. Friendliness generally begets friendliness.

Farmer, I didn't realize you are my neighbor. I'm in Okmulgee Co. Bristow is an awesome little town. We always stop to eat as the rib place on main st.

Belle

[JLMissouri]

Oklahoma is a great state, if I were to leave Missouri Oklahoma would be my first choice. Arizona is a good state as well, but I couldn't live there for the same reason you are leaving. The best and worst thing about a desert is it doesn't rain. My wife is from Phoenix and I am a Missouri native. I have been all over northern Oklahoma, and it is pretty. It is a little warmer than Missouri and on the western end a lot drier.

My wifes parents are scared to death of tornadoes as they are from Arizona. they have a weather radio that has an alarm and it goes off anytime there is a chance for tornadoes, and they call us when that happens. If you grow up around this area you don't think of it much. I have had a tornadoe come real close to me before, but I have never seen one, even after chasing them before.

One thing to consider is humidity. Most areas of Arizona are not very humid, and the most humid areas of Arizona are nothing compared to what you will encounter in this area. This summer humidity stayed down because of the drought. Even though it got hot (100's) it was livable and I was working outside all summer. When we got rain again I suffered much more in upper 80's than during the heat wave because the humidity was back.

[I_don't_know]

Go to nationalatlas.gov and use their map maker. All kinds of info about any area you think may be of interest, weather, crops, pay rates, educational levels, everything.

[braggscowboy]

I live close to Muskogee on the Rivers and the lakes of Eastern Okla. Greenleaf, Tenkiller, Arkansas river and Grand river. Good fishing and hunting. I am about 20 miles from Tahlequah and love the area. The summers are hot sometime, but the winters can make up for it. Can have really good gardens most times, but like a lot of places, been pretty dry. In the hot part of summer, I think I want to to Main, then in the winter, glad I am here. Good water and lakes are wonderful for fishing and some of the bigger great for boating. Lake Eufalula is about 25 mile from me. Greenleaf about 2 miles. Tenkiller about 7 miles. Ark. river, two directions, about 2 miles. Fishing can be great, if so mind to fish. If you get acreage, you will have good deer hunting, hogs in lot of places, even a bear shows up once in a while. Tulsa is about 75 miles, Muskogee about 15. Love it here.

[doppler8000]

i live north of tulsa in owasso and i love it. if i were to move here i would move in the far south east corner broken bow, antlers area. theres lots of land, creeks and lakes, and it has the climate of the ozark hills but on a flatter surface. if you have to stay in the NE i would find any small town with the kind of property you need in a 50 mile radius to tulsa theres nothing you cant get your hands on in that 50 mile circle.

[pancho]

Originally Posted by doppler8000

i live north of tulsa in owasso and i love it. if i were to move here i would move in the far south east corner broken bow, antlers area. theres lots of land, creeks and lakes, and it has the climate of the ozark hills but on a flatter surface. if you have to stay in the NE i would find any small town with the kind of property you need in a 50 mile radius to tulsa theres nothing you cant get your hands on in that 50 mile circle.

I was born in Antlers and lived in Finley until I went into the military. It was a great place to grow up in. Always thought I would retire there.

[belladulcinea]

But in the SE corner you might encounter Big Foot! Antlers and Hugo seem to have lots of nice areas around the lakes.

[Ozarks Tom]

Originally Posted by belladulcinea

But in the SE corner you might encounter Big Foot!

No, I moved.

[calliemoonbeam]

I guess I'll be the lone dissenter here, lol. I absolutely hate Oklahoma, as all the long-time posters already know. Right now I live about 40 miles southwest of Tulsa, but lived many years in Tulsa, and a few northward between Owasso and Collinsville, which I will admit was better but also much more expensive.

We really only have TWO seasons, a way too-hot and steamy summer and a way too cold and icy winter...with about a week each of spring and fall, if we're lucky. We have weeks and weeks on end of 100+ temps (some up to 120) with high humidity usually, although right now we're headed into our third year of drought, which is predicted to stay the same and/or worsen and to last at least 10 years. Gardens have been a total loss for the past two years.

We get very little snow, but many ice storms which take down massive trees like matchsticks and power lines for weeks at a time almost every winter. We've also just had almost 10 days of temps at night below 20, and this has been a very mild winter for us.

Speaking of not liking wind...have you ever heard the song "Oklahoma" where the "winds come sweeping down the plain"? We have plenty of wind year round, but especially in spring, which brings along with it roaring, fast-moving prairie grass fires that burn thousands of acres almost every summer. Tornadoes are also frequent and sometimes catastrophic, and no you don't always have warning, especially rurally. Of course, living with them all my life, I've learned what to watch for and how to read the signs, but still no picnic, although I'd pefer them to earthquakes, which we've also been having for the past few years. A small one a little over a year ago was enough to damage buildings, including my house 35 miles from the epicenter.

Land is really cheap here, I'll give you that, but as someone else said you've really got to pay attention to what you're getting. It ranges from nothing but sand to huge rocks to thick clay that won't grow anything until you spend a fortune amending it or building raised beds, especially south and west of Tulsa. East and north are better, until you get into the foothills area. There are a lot of trees and greenery, as well as a lot of lakes (they say we have more shoreline than the East and Gulf coasts combined), but with that comes a lot of bugs and snakes and the never-ending maintenance to keep all that greenery in check.

The crime rate is really bad in Tulsa with lots of gangs and drugs. Even rurally there are lots of meth labs, thefts and break-ins, but I guess those are common pretty much anywhere any more. And I don't know where all these open, friendly people are. I've found people here to be very closed-minded, judgmental and standoffish, especially on trying to move into a small community where everyone has known everyone forever, unless of course they want something from you, lol.

So, I just thought I should point out that everything is not as rosy as some might paint it, although I do readily admit I hate Oklahoma and have health problems that make living here extremely miserable. In fact, I'm dreaming, scheming and praying to find a way to move out of here within the next year or so.

Out of the four states you mentioned, I'd probably go with Missouri. It's a very pretty state with a lot of good qualities (though still too hot and humid to suit me personally, lol). Texas is even worse temp and drought-wise than Oklahoma, and Kansas has even more wind, possibly more tornadoes (though it's pretty close I think) and more big snow storms.

Good luck with your decision! There will be ups and downs to any place and I'm sure some will think I'm too negative, but personally I want to know ALL the facts about a place I'm planning to uproot my entire life for, not just the good stuff.