[INVAR]

Wouldn’t a better approach be to try and escape it? Hopefully traveling at a 90 degree angle. Now that everybody has a smartphone it shouldn’t be difficult to discern which direction to go.

That would be optimal. If you happen to be on a roadway, looking West or South and see a tornado - and it does not seem to be moving, chances are it's moving right at you. If there's a road that runs perpendicular and you can try to outrun it at that angle - then that's a risk you can take. A cell phone showing the movement of the storm cell would be helpful to make such a decision. Most Spotters use doppler to determine where it is safe to make an escape if we get too close. Tornadoes generally move from the Southwest to the Northeast, or from the South or West generally to the East - so putting petal to the metal on a North/West or South road with the tornado to your SW might put you out of the path.

[JRandomFreeper]

Chasers, not Spotters. Spotters find a safe place, check into the net, and stay there. Chasers are the guys that can't get insurance to cover their windshield replacements anymore.

The difference between a spotter and a chaser is 50 iq points. I was/am a spotter.

/johnny

[KC Burke]

I once was driving on a Missouri highway into an approaching storm. I noticed multiple funnels trying to fully form to reach the ground to my left front ahead of me. I decided to floor it and hope I got by.

I had a completely different funnel drop just 400 yards to the right of me and become a tornado. It could have dropped right on me.

[JimSp]

I did exactly that on the tornado last week here in Texas. With my smart phone it made it feasible.