Can you survive inside a tornado?

Read the story of the scientist who got stuck inside a twister.

- Written by Perry Samson, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, University of Michigan. Published in association with theconversation.com

My name is Professor Perry Samson and I have seen the centre of a monster.

Most people describe the sound of a tornado as like a freight train, but up close, it's more like a thousand screaming jet engines. I am one of the few people on Earth who has driven into a tornado and lived to tell the tale.

I am an atmospheric scientist who studies tornadoes, but I am only alive today because of split-second decisions and a massive amount of dumb luck. Believe me, I do not want to ever be in that situation again.

The day the sky broke

It started in northwest Kansas in the US, where I was studying supercell thunderstorms — the kind that produce tornadoes — with a team of students from the University of Michigan.

We were positioned under a thunderstorm that was so dark, we had to turn on our vehicles' headlights in the middle of the day. Suddenly, a tornado formed and began charging directly towards us. The students were in other vehicles and got away, but my car was quickly swallowed by a cloud of flying debris so thick that I couldn't even see the bonnet of my car.