Joshua Wurman, director of the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colorado, has spent the past several days in pursuit of tornadoes across Oklahoma. "It's been a very busy time," Wurman tells National Geographic.

And yet many people's thinking about tornadoes is shaped as much by folk wisdom passed down from their parents as it is by solid science. For example, one piece of folk wisdom has it that moving to the southwest corner of a basement or building reduces risk of injury during a tornado. There are no data to support that, Wurman says, noting that the important thing is to stay low and away from windows.

Wurman works with a team of scientists to position mobile instruments as