An impending tornado darkens skies over the Colorado plains. Most tornadoes are 400 to 500 feet (122 to 152 meters) wide, travel four or five miles (six to eight kilometers) and last just a few minutes.
Photograph by Priit Vesilind
Tornadoes are one of nature's most powerful and destructive forces. Here's some advice on how to prepare for a tornado and what to do if you're caught in a twister's path.
Safety Tips
• Prepare for tornadoes by gathering emergency supplies including food, water, medications, batteries, flashlights, important documents, road maps, and a full tank of gasoline.
• When a tornado approaches, anyone in its path should take shelter indoors—preferably in a basement or an interior first-floor room or hallway.
• Avoid windows and seek additional protection by getting underneath large, solid pieces of furniture.
• Avoid automobiles and mobile homes, which provide almost no protection from tornadoes.
• Those caught outside should lie flat in a depression or on other low ground and wait for the storm to pass.
Related Features
Shop National Geographic
A Green Workplace
@NatGeoGreen on Twitter
Advertisement
-
Help Save the Colorado River
NG's new Change the Course campaign launches.
-
New Models for Fishing
Future of Fish is helping fishermen improve their bottom line while better managing stocks for the future.
National Geographic Magazine
-
Pollinators
They are the Earth’s pollinators. And they come in more than 200,000 shapes and sizes.
-
Age of Man
It’s a new name for a new geologic epoch—one defined by our own massive impact on the planet.
The World's Water
-
Help Save the Colorado River
NG's new Change the Course campaign launches. When individuals pledge to use less water in their own lives, our partners carry out restoration work in the Colorado River Basin.
-
Water Grabbers: A Global Rush on Freshwater
A special series on how grabbing water from poor people and future generations threatens global food security, environmental sustainability, and local cultures.
Special Ad Section
