Some states are safer than others in a nuclear attack map

David777

Well-known Member
Location
Silicon Valley
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Interesting current fallout map in news in our troubled world. Let us hope it never happens but if it does, being aware of worst areas would have value for survivors. With weather winds moving west to east, thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean make avoiding fallout optimal as long as one avoids the major core urban areas targeted. California has numbers of key military bases so expect the map doesn't accurately reflect those non ballistic missal site targets. The whole Southern California areas away from immediate coasts probably should be purple.

If I had some warning due to worsening world events, I would drive north away from the SFBA to our California northern coastal areas of less people the better. As a longtime backpacker but not a Prepper, I have plenty of gear to live out of my car for months, and very importantly detailed paper maps showing non-paved back roads since avoiding desperate others with guns would be wise. Also know how to ocean shore fish and have edible plant guides for the region and sea shores.

Some states are safer than others in a nuclear attack

Some states are safer than others in a nuclear attack — this startling map reveals prime targets

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I'm not so sure the West Coast would be so spared.

A lot of the military-industrial complex is there, so I suspect that quite a few cities are targeted specifically, for first-salvo strikes.
 

Major West Coast cities would not be spared due to the mutual insured destruction threat. Soviets have vast numbers of atomic weapons beyond those for just military targets. Where I live in Silicon Valley would be just as certain a target as San Francisco 50 miles north. So would any of the West Coast major ports our Navy depends on.

For survival in my area, I would need about 20 minutes at speed without traffic to reach the other side of our 2k to 3k coastal mountain to the west where a blast would not have effects and usual west to east winds would keep me away from airborne radiation. Our most common fair weather wind directions are from the west and northwest. During stormy weather winds move from west and southwest. Uncommonly, usually only during the fall, we get dry north and northeasterly wind as fire weather that would be deathly anywhere in my region.
 
Actually even given a nuclear winter, according to more recent studies versus decades ago, many would survive in southern hemispheres, especially in New Zealand and Australia. Most would die in the Northern Hemisphere, not from nuclear blasts and radiation but rather starvation and lack of water. One might expect the navy's of those two nations would prevent being inundated by those fleeing from the north and rather direct them to less controlled nations in Southern Africa or South America.

Australians may survive a nuclear war that starves 5 billion

Scientists Reveal Safest Countries To Survive Nuclear Apocalypse
 
We would all be dead, that fallout has to go somewhere, but just in case, I keep my iodine pills for radiation, in the fridge, not to worried about dieing myself, but about my kids and grandkids.
 
Shelter in place would most likely be a wise choice. Highways blocked,
tainted food and water would only add to ones anxiety. Most all would
perish from crime or health. Radiation meds would be passed out. I
remember that fellow in Japan that survived both blasts, just days apart
in both cities. 1st. he was visiting and went home for the 2nd blast.

Remember "On The Beach" The guys are on the Australian Beach but go back
Home, hear the telegraph random dots-dashes, find the window open and
the moving blind hooked to the telegraph. No one around. That was that
Nuke War. 1959 & Gregory Peck. All were predicted to die in a few weeks anyway.
 
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There has been a back and forth argument about this post nuclear war survival issue since the 1950's. Yucca Flats in the Nevada Desert sustained a vast number of low yield nuclear detonations for decades yet the Area 52 military facility next to the bomb site is active. The Yucca Flats Bomb site actually conducts limited tours once or twice a year.

Now me, when the counterforce missiles are on the way I wish to be right next to Homestead Power Plant like all the others which will decimate our power grid and get it over with. In the real world of a nuclear war between the superpowers whomever survives the following counterforce strike need to ponder what their survival plan is when their source of food and water is low or nonexistent and the the gangs come.

Food for thought

 
Talking of all things Nuclear... this appeared in the news today....

Dogs living near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have mutated to develop a new superpower - they are immune to radiation, heavy metals and pollution. Scientists collected blood samples from 116 stray dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), finding two different populations that were both genetically distinct from other dogs in the surrounding area.

This suggests they have adapted to withstand long-term exposure to this toxic environment and would explain why they have continued to thrive in the wasteland. Understanding how the dogs developed their genetic superpower could help better understand the health impacts of living in a highly toxic environment with multiple environmental hazards, not just in dogs but also in humans.
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Following the tragic event, humans were evacuated from Chernobyl and the surrounding areas to avoid the extreme levels of radiation. From then on, the site was known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Their absence allowed wildlife to flourish and thrive in the CEZ, which contains 11.28 millirem of radiation – six times the allowed exposure amount for human workers.
The site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is a radioactive wasteland. But somehow, stray dogs have managed to survive there for years, and now scientists know why. An estimated 900 stray dogs live in the CEZ, and many of them are likely the descendants of pets left behind following the mass evacuation of Chernobyl residents.
Norman J. Kleiman, an environmental health scientist at Columbia University, led a team of researchers to investigate how living in this harsh environment impacted the dogs' genetics, as disasters that contaminate or destroy habitat can force wildlife to adapt to adverse environmental changes. He and his colleagues collected blood samples from 116 'semi-feral' dogs, who were humanely captured around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and 10 miles away in Chernobyl City. These samples were taken during sterilization and vaccination procedures conducted by the Clean Futures Fund Dogs of Chernobyl program in 2018 and 2019.
 
The blood samples were then transported to the US for DNA extraction and analysis, which revealed the dogs' unique genetic makeup. 'Somehow, two small populations of dogs managed to survive in that highly toxic environment,' Kleiman said in a statement. 'In addition to classifying the population dynamics within these dogs . . . we took the first steps towards understanding how chronic exposure to multiple environmental hazards may have impacted these populations.'

He and his colleagues published their findings in the journal Canine Medicine and Genetics in March 2023. Specifically, the researchers found nearly 400 'outlier loci,' or genomic locations that show behavior or patterns of variation that are extremely divergent from the rest of the genome.
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Then, they identified 52 genes associated with these outlier loci that 'could be associated with exposure to the contamination of the environment at the Nuclear Power Plant,' the study states. In other words, the dogs' contaminated environment caused them to develop genetic mutations that were passed down from generation to generation, ultimately driving their adaptation to the harsh conditions. But these strays are not the only CEZ animals found to have developed genetic superpowers. In January, a team of researchers presented findings that suggest mutant wolves living in this toxic habitat are uniquely resilient to cancer-causing radiation exposure.
Moe here.... Dogs living near the Chernobyl disaster develops wild new superpower
 
Shelter in place would most likely be a wise choice. Highways blocked,
tainted food and water would only add to ones anxiety. Most all would
perish from crime or health. Radiation meds would be passed out. I
remember that fellow in Japan that survived both blasts, just days apart
in both cities. 1st. he was visiting and went home for the 2nd blast.

Remember "On The Beach" The guys are on the Australian Beach but go back
Home, hear the telegraph random dots-dashes, find the window open and
the moving blind hooked to the telegraph. No one around. That was that
Nuke War. 1959 & Gregory Peck. All were predicted to die in a few weeks anyway.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(1959)


www.imdb.com/title/tt0219224)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(2000)

 
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I would hope to be within a one mile radius of the point of detonation where I would be vaporized immediately. Further away than that, I would finish myself off with my handgun rather than wait for a slow and agonizing death from radiation or burns.

But, knowing my luck, I wouldn't be affected at all, other than watching it on TV.
 
I'm surprised that New York, which would likely be a nuke target is in the map's orange zone rather than black or purple. If they nuke N.Y., we here in northern N.J. would be very adversely affected by fallout. Like @KSav wrote, I don't think I'd want to be a survivor, but perhaps if it were the real deal, survivor mode would be on auto-pilot. I don't even like post apocalyptic movies, sure would hate to live it in real life.
 
I suppose that map assumes an oddly "clean" strike only on purported ICBM silos.

That seems odd, since a 1st response today would more likely be launched from assets at sea including subs that aren't so easily pinpointed in advance.

I don't think that map means anything aside from trying to make the west coast feel better about antagonizing potential enemies.
 
I would hope to be within a one mile radius of the point of detonation where I would be vaporized immediately.
Same here. I recall a high school teacher once telling the class that if a nuclear strike were expected he would go outside, find a hill to stand on, and just wait.
 


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