Tornadoes are the most ferocious of all storms. With winds often approaching 200 miles per hour at their core, no place is really safe from them. The damage path from a tornado can often be long and windy, and rarely easy to anticipate during a storm. Previously impossible to forecast, meteorologists now have a few tools to get people advance warning of a possible tornado, but still leaving only minutes for action.

TORNADO FACTS:

• Tornadoes have occurred in all 50 states, in all months of the year, and at all times of the day.
• Tornadoes can strike without warning, and can move in ANY direction, especially from SW toward NE. They have been seen stationary and moving as fast as 60 mph.
• The average life span of a tornado is only 7:30 minutes, but have been known to last over an hour.
• Any range of thunderstorm intensities are capable of spawning a tornado under favorable conditions.
• Hurricanes, when they strike land, often spawn many tornadoes on their northeast section.
• Tornadoes happen most often in the late Spring, and most often in the afternoon/early evening hours.

• Consider a 'Tornado Shelter' (not statistically necessary in MA) - There are structures, some of them built underground, that can offer maximum resistance to tornadoes, whereby you would create that to be an option for yourself in the event of a tornado.
• Examine the Best Places to Hide - Listed below are the best places to hide (since that's what you'll be doing in the event of a tornado) given various locations. Knowing these ahead of time will save you precious seconds getting to safety.
• Have A Disaster-Preparedness Kit - In the advent of a tornado, you'll need just about anything, but flashlights and a first-aid kit are essential. Batteries, battery-powered radio, and more batteries are a good idea. Work gloves, and working knowledge of how to turn off the power in your house will be helpful too. Consider what you need if you discovered you were going to be 'without' for a day or two, and think about adding them to your disaster kit.

• A greenish or greenish black tint to the clouds in the sky (often reserved for the baddest storms with the highest water content). This isn't a 'dead ringer' for a tornado...but anytime you see this in the sky, it's time to head inside.
• Falling hail. Though a common occurrence in strong thunderstorms, when combined with the known issuance of a "Tornado Warning", it's a good sign that you are in the proximity of the core of a tornado-producing thunderstorm.
• Fast-moving / rotating clouds. These indicate the type of swirling patters often seen before a tornado 'touchdown'. Though a 'funnel cloud' is not guaranteed in this situation, it's another one of those signs to seek shelter.
• Debris falling from the sky. Often when a tornado moves along, it can suck up just about anything, and deposit it far away from itself. So if you see things falling from the sky that isn't normal precipitation (branches, rocks, shingles, etc.), it's a good bet that a tornado is around.
• Loud sounds. Those who have experienced tornadoes first-hand have often reported sounds like a waterfall when a tornado is approaching, amplifying to a noise like a train or a jet engine. That kind of roar may be the best unmistakeable sign of a tornado. Don't waste any time when hearing these sounds.
• Branches or debris from the ground being lifted in an upward pattern. Some may think this is obvious, but there are times people have been in the midst of a developing tornado, and didn't react because they never saw a 'funnel'. When leaves and twigs are being pulled upward around you, you may be at 'ground zero'.

• In a storm shelter created specifically for tornado safety. This would involve specific engineering specifications and building materials. The best ones will have some element underground, as the Earth can provide a lot of shelter from horizontal windflow (the vertical component is not nearly that strong).
• In the basement. This, for the same reasons as above, is the best place in your house to go if you have one. You should preferably find the sturdiest place to stay away from the South and West walls (most direct hits from tornadoes will cause these walls to collapse foremost). Good spots would be under a work-table or a stairwell. Bad spots would be next to chimneys, crumbly constructs, or next to industrial appliances.
• A small window-less interior room of the lowest floor of your house. If you can't get to any of the above, this would be the next place you should consider. A bathroom is ideal for this situation, and to further strengthen your tenuous position, a mattress or couch cushion over the bathtub is the kind of protection on all side you're looking for. The idea is to put as many walls between you and the tornado itself, with as much cushion (or 'not going to fall' sturdy stuff) above you.

• These locations DO NOT provide adequate shelter. Often poorly constructed, they have no sturdy interior sections, basements, and often no solid mooring to the ground. Your first choice should be to be aware of a better place of shelter that is as close to you as possible. When a "Tornado Watch" is posted, you should consider heading to that place until the coast is clear.
• If you find yourself nevertheless inside one of these and a tornado is imminent, about the only thing you can do is to get as interior (or as far away from the South and West walls) as possible, and pull your mattress, blankets, whatever else ontop of you for cushion. There is a reason why many people are injured at trailer parks during tornadoes; it really isn't that safe of a place to shelter.

• Make sure you're not in any gym, auditorium, or any other 'free-span' room. The best places to be are in interior halls on the lowest floor, away from windows, glass, and doors.
• Crouch down as low as possible. In tornado events, simple things such as doorknobs and glass shards can become bullets and missiles, and it's important that you are as small a target as possible. Cover your head, with your own hands if you have to.
• Listen to the direction of your teacher (but understand you might not have a teacher there, or instructions if there is one present). In either case, you need to know what you can do to maximize your safety.

• Much like the schools, interior rooms on the lowest floor are the best. Stay away from long-span walls, especially on the West and South sides. Be wary of large open rooms suspended above by long beams. The smaller the wall, roof, or span, the less likely it is to collapse (which is your biggest problem).
• Crouch down and cover your head. Again, you need to minimize yourself from flying objects. Another note in this type of building is that some normally good interior rooms may end up being even more hazardous for you in the event of a tornado if there's an over-abundance of objects inside that can be potentially hazardous if struck by them. No need to hang out in the 'knife storage room' or the 'needles room' or the 'freezer' if you see what I'm getting at.

• Most high-rise buildings can withstand the ferocity of a tornado, but oddly enough only because we're talking about the structure. Often these buildings are left totally sheared out, where you can see right through several floors at a time. A tornado could perhaps go literally right through one of these buildings.
• Interior rooms of high-rise buildings are obviously the way to go, with as many small walls between you and the outside as possible. Central stairwells are best, but stay away from elevators. If the building loses power, you'll be there a while.
• Again, protect yourself from potential flying debris, and avoid any place with glass and such as much as can be done.

• The best advice for those in their car during a tornado may sound the simplest: If you see a tornado infront of you, or you can pinpoint its location relative to yourself (and it's sufficiently far away), merely drive in the opposite direction. However, it often isn't that easy. You should only attempt to flee if you know the roads you're on, and certain they're not going to put you in a worse position than you started (wooded surroundings, dirt roads, one-way streets, etc.) Also, when travelling in a severe thunderstorm, you may encounter falling hail on your way away from a tornado; hail that could break your windshield. Add to all this, driving in a tornado zone is like playing Frogger with your life, with all sorts of tree-sized missiles being hurled all around. Only attempt such a thing if far from shelter and already moving (with perhaps a rare and dire exception of being stuck in a mobile home at the first warning of a tornado).
  
• Remember that a car is NOT the safest place to be in a severe thunderstorm. If by your car within safe distance of a sturdy structure, the structure is the place to head. Sometimes it is not guaranteed that you will always know where a tornado is if you're trying to flee it in a car.
• Do NOT try to escape a tornado by pulling over under a bridge or overpass. Much like the sky-scraper example, just because a tornado may not be able to lift or collapse what's above you, it can certainly throw large objects straight in there where you're supposedly hiding. The best option is actually a ditch compared to an underpass. Here the Earth itself breaks the horizontal wind (something you're not otherwise getting).
• Large tractor-trailers, school busses, and the like should be treated similarly to a mobile home. Unless they have a LOT of weight to them, they're just offering a tornado a larger sail to steer, combined with a more lumbering agility.

• Obviously this is the most dangerous of all positions to be in, and is usually the result of an accident, tremendously poor preparation, or overall ignorance of the situation. You have no protection for yourself, and no quick way of getting anywhere.
  
• The best thing to do is look for shelter anywhere you can find it, even if it means a home that's not your own. At this point, it's life and death, and when there's a window between you and safety (a window that's about to be blown out anyway), it might be a good idea to consider breaking in to find safety somehow. It is likely that any residents would understand in a truly dire situation.
• The chances of being struck by powerlines, or falling trees, or other airborne missiles is much greater than encountering the tornado itself, so whatever you do, do it quickly, and staying away from the above items as best you can is a good idea (for example, no running into a forest).
• In a truly dire situation, lying down flat in a ditch may be your last resort. Here you'd use the Earth again to block the horizontal wind flow, and do what you can to protect your head. But even this is NOT a good idea if it's raining. Flooding will still cause a greater threat to your life than a possible direct hit from a tornado.