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" Tornado sirens wail eerily above the rising sound of the wind. A twister could be headed your way. You have just seconds to get your family to safety. &amp;quot;If you do find yourself in that situation, you&amp;#039;re going to have to make some critical last-minute decisions as to where you might be able to survive if you&amp;#039;re hit,&amp;quot; says Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center (SPC). The wrong decision could be fatal, but deadly misconceptions abound. As tornado season heats up, remember not to fall for these five myths about tornado safety. Myth 1: Overpasses are good tornado shelters for motorists. On April 26, 1991, a group of motorists huddled under an overpass on the Kansas Turnpike during a tornado and shot video of their ordeal. They were lucky to survive this close encounter, and the dramatic footage of their experience has led many to believe that overpasses are viable tornado shelters. The space beneath an overpass can create a wind tunnel, accelerating the already-violent winds of the tornado. And wind speed increases with height, so climbing the embankments beneath the girders of the overpass may expose you to even stronger winds. &amp;quot;People have tried to take shelter and been killed in overpasses,&amp;quot; Carbin says. &amp;quot;The wind forced through a small, rigid opening like that can actually increase the wind speed and likely tear you right out of there, which has happened.&amp;quot; Leaving your car near the overpass can also endanger other drivers trying to flee the tornado because parked vehicles cause traffic to back up on the highway. &amp;quot;The tornado moves in and perhaps causes even more injury and death because you&amp;#039;ve got vehicles flying around that might have been able to get through,&amp;quot; he says. And if the tornado wedges those vehicles under the overpass, they can create a roadblock for emergency responders. Myth 2: A ditch or other low spot is a better place to hide. There&amp;#039;s a partial truth here. The lower you can be, the safer you are from the tornado&amp;#039;s powerful wind, not only because wind speed increases with altitude, but also because you are less likely to be picked up by the wind. Some experts also claim that tornadoes tend not to follow topography precisely, so they may pass over a ditch rather than dipping into it. As a result, many sources advise leaving your vehicle and hiding in a ditch, but Carbin disagrees. Why? Carbin says that ditches are dangerous places during a severe storm, and their hazards might outweigh whatever shelter they offer. &amp;quot;Many of these storms produce incredible amounts of rainfall, and getting in a ditch is probably not the best idea when there&amp;#039;s the potential for flash flooding as well,&amp;quot; he says. Remaining in your car may be your best option, especially since it gives you the best chance to get away from the tornado in the first place. Myth 3: You should never try to outrun a tornado. Several authoritative sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), warn that twisters are too fast to outrun. And even before the funnel catches up to you, strong winds can flip a car. It is true that tornadoes can move along the ground at up to 70 miles per hour and can change course unpredictably, but most cars can easily top 70 mph if no traffic gets in the way. &amp;quot;You can outrun a tornado, but you have to know what you&amp;#039;re doing,&amp;quot; says Carbin. &amp;quot;You have to know where you are in relation to the tornado, you have to know what direction the tornado is moving, and if you know those things, there is a good chance you can actually get out of the way. But you have to know those things. You can&amp;#039;t just assume.&amp;quot; If you have the option to pull off the road and seek shelter in a sturdy building, then do so. But if you find yourself out on the open highway with no better shelter than an overpass or ditch, your best option may be to just keep driving. Watch for traffic, debris, or other obstacles. If the wind becomes too strong, then the SPC advises pulling off the road but remaining in your car. Keep your seatbelt fastened and your engine running, which will allow your airbags to deploy if needed. Cover up with whatever you have available, like a blanket or coat. This is not ideal, but it is hardly worse than a flooded ditch with no cover. &amp;quot;In some cases, when you&amp;#039;re faced head-on with a tornado and you&amp;#039;re in a vehicle, there really aren&amp;#039;t any safe options,&amp;quot; Carbin says. Myth 4: Open your house&amp;#039;s windows to equalize air pressure. &amp;quot;After a significant tornado, it looks like a bomb has gone off,&amp;quot; Carbin says, &amp;quot;so perhaps this originated with the idea that the pressure in the tornado is so low that buildings literally explode.&amp;quot; Opening windows supposedly allows the higher air pressure inside the house to equalize with the lower pressure of the storm and prevent a devastating explosion. But Carbin says this is a dangerous misconception. First, he says, the mythical pressure differential is nonexistent. &amp;quot;Most buildings are not airtight, so any pressure difference is probably going to be released through cracks that are already there.&amp;quot; You could try to open the windows in advance, but this will only create an opening for wind and debris to sweep into the house, creating a wind-tunnel effect that can make wind damage a certainty rather than just a threat. As the NCDC says: &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t worry about equalizing the pressure. The roof ripping off and the pickup truck smashing through the front wall will equalize the pressure for you.&amp;quot; So, concentrate on taking shelter, not opening a bunch of windows. Remember, the first advice that accompanies a storm warning is &amp;quot;Stay away from windows.&amp;quot; If a tornado is approaching, seconds count. So use them to take shelter and move away from the windows, not toward them. Myth 5: The southwest corner of your basement is the safest place to hide. Tornadoes usually move from southwest to northeast. So the idea behind this myth is that most of the debris will fall on the trailing edge, making the southwest corner the safest. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t think there&amp;#039;s any evidence to suggest that one corner of the basement is better than another,&amp;quot; Carbin says. &amp;quot;If you do have a basement, it probably doesn&amp;#039;t matter where. But you might want to consider something sturdy above your head, because if the building collapses, you&amp;#039;re going to have to dig your way out of that.&amp;quot; You should also try to avoid being directly beneath heavy appliances on the upper floors of the house. If you do not have a basement, the best place to be is the center of the ground floor. &amp;quot;The key is to try to get as many walls between you and the outside as possible, avoiding windows and getting low,&amp;quot; Carbin says. An interior bathroom is usually a good alternative, because pipes help reinforce the walls, it has few if any windows, and the bathtub itself provides some added shelter. NEXT: How to Prepare Your Home for an Emergency \u00BB Photo: Gene Rhoden/Weatherpix/Getty This story originally appeared on PopularMechanics.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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