'I've seen the movies. What a horrible way to die': What it's like to be sucked into a tornado and survive

1. Planet Earth
2. Weather

'I've seen the movies. What a horrible way to die': What it's like to be sucked into a tornado and survive MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Interview By Hannah Osborne published 10 April 2026

Perry Samson was helping students conduct field experiments on supercell storms in Kansas in 2008 when one suddenly turned into a tornado and dragged him in.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

A tornado near Dodge City in Kansas in 2016. Kansas is one of the states worst affected by tornadoes. (Image credit: Francis Lavigne-Theriault/Getty Images)

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Whatsapp
• Reddit
• Pinterest
• Flipboard
• Email

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Live Science Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

Become a Member in Seconds

Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful

Want to add more newsletters?

Delivered Daily

Daily Newsletter

Sign up for the latest discoveries, groundbreaking research and fascinating breakthroughs that impact you and the wider world direct to your inbox.

Signup +

Once a week

Life's Little Mysteries

Feed your curiosity with an exclusive mystery every week, solved with science and delivered direct to your inbox before it's seen anywhere else.

Signup +

Once a week

How It Works

Sign up to our free science & technology newsletter for your weekly fix of fascinating articles, quick quizzes, amazing images, and more

Signup +

Delivered daily

Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Signup +

Once a month

Watch This Space

Sign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.

Signup +

Once a week

Night Sky This Week

Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!

Signup +

Join the club

Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.

Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter

Tornadoes produce the fastest wind speeds in the world and can cause monumental destruction. In 2008, atmospheric scientist Perry Samson was conducting field research on supercell storms in Oberlin, Kansas, when he got a much closer look at these devastating weather phenomena than he expected — and got dragged into a tornado.

Samson, professor emeritus of atmospheric science at the University of Michigan, was on a teaching trip, helping students learn how to make measurements and observations. He'd set up a foundation so students could go and study these thunderstorms in the field, giving them the chance to learn how to conduct large field studies.

As they were carrying out their observations, a tornado formed from a supercell nearby and began moving toward them.

You may like

• Forced closure of premier US weather-modeling institute could endanger millions of Americans
• Parkfield, San Andreas, and the quest for a 'crystal ball' for predicting earthquakes before they happen
• 'Humans can't be considered to be separate from the environment': Award-winning scientist Meha Jain on using satellites and real world experiences to help farmers in India facing a precarious future

A supercell is a thunderstorm with a persistent rotating updraft. If the updraft is being fed by warm, moist air at ground level, it can turn into a tornado — but this is relatively rare. Around 20% of supercell storms end up as tornadoes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory.

"Your chance of seeing one is very low, really," Samson told Live Science. "You just try to position yourself [in] places where you think that something could happen and be flexible enough to move from there. We positioned ourselves near Oberlin that day."

Live Science spoke with Samson about what it's like to end up inside a tornado and survive.

Hannah Osborne: How quickly did the tornado form, and at what point did you realize you were in trouble?

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Perry Samson: We could see there was some motion inside these clouds which could produce a tornado. It formed to our south, and we immediately realized that the winds in the upper atmosphere were from south to north and so this thing was going to be moving towards us. Despite all the training we've been through, all the preparation we've gone through, realizing a tornado is bearing down, you sort of freak out.

My biggest concern was obviously making sure the students are going to be safe. We thought we'd drive to the east to get out of the way. And my students made it out of the way, but I wasn't as fast as they were.

HO: What were you thinking at this point?

What to read next

• Arctic blast probably won't cause trees to explode in the cold — but here's what happens if and when they do go boom
• Super El Niño looms, an Acropolis fragment resurfaces, a promising cure for Alzheimer's appears, and a hexagonal diamond is made
• Cannonball-size meteorite crashes through roof of Texas home as multiple 'fireballs' rain down on the US

PS: I wound up getting caught in the debris to the point that I could not see even the front of the car. It was so much debris flying, and I realized that I was now near the core of the tornado. I was thinking, I've been training, studying these things myself ‪—‬ so I knew the wind flow and how the wind is going to move. So I tried to position the car to take advantage of the aerodynamics of the vehicle, and this is the point where I always have to do a shout out for the Chevrolet Cobalt. The car has excellent aerodynamics, so I pointed it into the wind as best I could.

You should also understand that I'm from a family of meteorologists. My sister and my brother are also meteorologists. So for me, this was exciting. But I also knew the dangers and things were slamming against the windshield and vibrating and flying off debris of all kinds ‪—‬ sticks, twigs, everything. And I thought, "Oh my God, is there a cow in this field? I've seen the movies. What a horrible way to die."

I tried to take a picture, because I also offered, jokingly, in my courses, the first student who could get a video looking straight up the insides of a tornado, I would give an instant Ph.D. to. Of course, they'd have to live long enough to write it up. So, knowing that joke, I tried to take a picture. It was funny, but it was so black inside that the camera wouldn't work. I couldn't take any pictures inside the tornado, so I just hunkered down on the front seat, got as low as possible, expecting the car was going to get bashed.

Thank God, the storm passed over me. And I got out, and the car was embedded with straw in every crack. Between the door and the window, anything, just straw embedded straight into the car. The front roof of the vehicle was actually lifted a little bit off the car. We just went to the next town, and we took her through the car wash.

HO: What did the car rental company say when you brought the car back?

SP: You know, I forgot to mention that. They asked, "How was the car, good?" I said, "Oh it worked very well; thank you."

HO: When you were in the middle of it, was it completely different to what you imagined being in a tornado would be like?

SP: I've never thought about it, but if the tornado's been on the ground for more than a couple of minutes, it's going to be picking up soil and straw and whatever's in the path of buildings. That's the greatest danger right there, flying debris. In fact, we teach our students, if your car is in the path, get out of the car and get into a ditch. ‪But you want to be as low to the ground as possible because the wind speed is lowest at the surface.

I tried to open the door, [but] the power of the wind was such that we could not even get the door open. So I said, "I've done everything wrong." It's one of those moments where you think, 'Yeah, I should have been more religious."

Oberlin Abridged - YouTube Watch On

HO: From the start of realizing, "I'm not getting out of this" to when it finished, how long was that?

SP: It wasn't long. I mean, it seemed long at the time. But I think it was ‪—‬ well, in fact, I know ‪—‬ it was less than a minute, because we had data. Our cars were measuring wind speed, wind direction, pressure, humidity, all this. We could see the winds, the pressure change, was significant.

It would be like you're in an elevator going from the bottom to the top of a 20-story building in 10 seconds. So it's quite a pressure change, and you notice that. And both as it goes down, it comes back up again. But beyond that, the wind speeds were somewhere close to 200 miles an hour [322 km/h], we estimate, based on our measurements. It's hard to describe it; it's just such a fast change.

[With] a hurricane, you know it's coming for days. You know it's going to happen. But this, you got, I would say it was a minute. It was a minute from when it began to when it was over.

HO: What was your first thought when it ended?

SP: The first thing I did is, I called my colleague from Texas Tech University, and he claims he still has the recording of my voice, which was a mix of fright and enthusiasm: a), I almost killed myself with b) Holy cow, this is what it looked like inside.

I think he just felt sorry for me because I put myself in such a terrible situation and the students in a terrible situation.

Related stories

• 'In every continent where humans are present, water bankruptcy is manifesting itself': Exiled Iranian scientist Kaveh Madani on our desperate need to preserve our most precious resource
• 'They are literally everywhere': The shocking story of how forever chemicals polluted the world
• 'It's nature calling to humans, and humans deciding whether or not to reply': Why we need to start paying attention to our mutually beneficial relationships with other species

HO: Did that experience change how you looked at tornadoes and the work you were doing on them?

SP: I taught a class for many years, and it was called "Extreme weather and climate change" ‪—‬ and issues on the table were, how will extreme weather events change in a warming climate? So I can bring these videos of the experience and stories to the classroom, and it made the conversation more engaging, I think, for the students to be able to ask questions about it, more details of what it's like in these storms.

It didn't affect my research, but my research really isn't on extreme weather. That's just a passion. To this day, I get asked all the time to come and give a talk because it's so foolish, people want to hear it over and over again.

We continued doing the [student field trip] for the next several years. It continued, in fact, to set up a whole endowment at my university, so after I retired, they had the resources to be able to go and send students out ‪—‬ not necessarily storm chasing. I've also taken teams of students to the innards of Greenland, where we make atmospheric measurements related to climate changes, get the students out into the field, give them the opportunity to discover more than just the science, the passion for this field.

HO: But you wouldn't recommend going into a tornado?

SP: Absolutely not, no.

Editor's note: This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Hannah OsborneSocial Links NavigationEditor

Hannah Osborne is the planet Earth and animals editor at Live Science. Prior to Live Science, she worked for several years at Newsweek as the science editor. Before this she was science editor at International Business Times U.K. Hannah holds a master's in journalism from Goldsmith's, University of London.

View More

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Logout Read more Planet Earth Forced closure of premier US weather-modeling institute could endanger millions of Americans Earthquakes Parkfield, San Andreas, and the quest for a 'crystal ball' for predicting earthquakes before they happen Climate change 'Humans can't be considered to be separate from the environment': Award-winning scientist Meha Jain on using satellites and real world experiences to help farmers in India facing a precarious future Weather Arctic blast probably won't cause trees to explode in the cold — but here's what happens if and when they do go boom Planet Earth Super El Niño looms, an Acropolis fragment resurfaces, a promising cure for Alzheimer's appears, and a hexagonal diamond is made Meteoroids Cannonball-size meteorite crashes through roof of Texas home as multiple 'fireballs' rain down on the US Volcanoes Vanuatu's 'barefoot volcanologist' stands at ash- and sulfur-spewing Mount Yasur in award-winning photograph Space Exploration I've witnessed nearly 100 rocket launches. Artemis II was like nothing I've ever experienced. Space Science news this week: Artemis II lifts off, diabetes cured in mice, and smog in China shapes Arctic storms Climate change Extreme wildfires, droughts and storms could happen even under moderate global warming, study finds Archaeology World's oldest rock art, giant reservoir found beneath the East Coast seafloor, black hole revelations, and a record solar radiation storm Space Exploration Astronauts can face 'nearly lethal doses' of solar radiation — so why launch Artemis II during the sun's peak of activity? Space scientist Patricia Reiff explains. Latest in Weather Weather 'Super El Niño' could push global temperatures to unprecedented highs, forecasters say Weather Missing megaflood: How did the Mediterranean transform from a salt-filled bowl to a deep sea if it wasn't a cataclysmic deluge? Weather Arctic blast probably won't cause trees to explode in the cold — but here's what happens if and when they do go boom Weather Ethereal ice structures swirl alongside Chicago during extreme cold snap fueled by polar vortex Weather 'Nobody knew why this was happening': Scientists race to understand baffling behavior of 'clumping clouds' Weather Rare dusting of snow covers one of the driest place on Earth and shuts down massive radio telescope Weather Death Valley's 'world's hottest temperature' record may be due to a human error Weather Bizarre, UFO-like halo of red light appears over small Italian town — for the second time in 3 years Weather Twin tornadoes tear perfectly parallel tracks through Mississippi during deadly 'superstorm' Weather Why do European cities have milder winters than those in North America, despite being at the same latitude? Weather Watch Air Force fly inside the eye of Hurricane Melissa as experts warn 'storm of the century' will be catastrophic for Jamaica Weather 'Near stationary' Tropical Storm Melissa is moving slower than a person walking — and it may bring deadly flash floods to the Caribbean Latest in Interview Planet Earth 'In every continent where humans are present, water bankruptcy is manifesting itself': Exiled Iranian scientist Kaveh Madani on our desperate need to preserve our most precious resource Chemistry 'They are literally everywhere': The shocking story of how forever chemicals polluted the world The Moon 'This generation's moment': How the Artemis missions will reframe humanity's relationship with the moon Human Evolution 'That's why there's 9 billion of us and not 9 billion of some other primate': Why our ability to adapt is humanity's 'superpower' Animals 'It's nature calling to humans, and humans deciding whether or not to reply': Why we need to start paying attention to our mutually beneficial relationships with other species Health Making a 'digital twin' of yourself could revolutionize future surgeries, making medical procedures much more personal Climate change 'Humans can't be considered to be separate from the environment': Award-winning scientist Meha Jain on using satellites and real world experiences to help farmers in India facing a precarious future Neuroscience The 'sweet spot' of overconfidence — project a bit to be perceived as competent, but don't be 'too seduced,' a cognitive neuroscientist explains in a Q&A Medicine & Drugs 'It could revolutionize, completely, the way we treat depression': Researchers are exploring promising immune therapy for treating psychiatric symptoms Genetics 'Some of them have accuracy that's close to zero': Experts unpack the promise and pitfalls of genetic tests aimed at consumers Heart & Circulation Scientists are developing a 'self-driving' device that helps patients recover from heart attacks Neuroscience The evolution of life on Earth 'almost predictably' led to human intelligence, neuroscientist says LATEST ARTICLES

1. 1'More questions than answers': Experts baffled by Alaskan mammal-eating orcas spotted near Seattle
2. 2Changing 'just one DNA letter' in female mice triggers growth of male genitalia
3. 3Aoshima: Japan's tiny 'Cat Island' where felines hugely outnumber humans
4. 4Artemis II returns LIVE: NASA prepares for Artemis II crew's perilous return to Earth at record-breaking speeds
5. 5AI war games almost always escalate to nuclear strikes, simulation shows