How do you seek shelter from tornado if you are caught in the open?

I heard that you can see shelter underneath a bridge?

The idea is to get as low to the ground as possible. Under a bridge is workable, get down in a ditch, or just hug the ground. Remember that the worst part of a tornado is actualy the flying debris which extends farther beyond the actual funnel of wind that will pick you up and suck the skin off of your body.

Wait, Wiki says that under an overpass is a bad idea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado#Safety
Guess I learned something, and I live in Tornado Alley :p

Try to find a road culvert and crawl inside. It's low (lower than the road) and covered to help protect you from flying debris.

Sue

Well, regarding the bridge, it's worked for at least a few people. I did hear, however, that it's a bad idea, but I'd choose under an overpass before staying in the open. Either way, in the path of a tornado or its debris field is a bad place to be.

As I understand it the main danger in this case is horizontal winds and the debris they carry that causes the most problems.

While nice to have you don't really need overhead cover. Caught in a field you would seek shelter from these horizontal winds as best you can. A culvert below ground would be ideal. A ditch that allows you to get your body entirely below ground level would be pretty good and a shallow depression, assuming that is the best you can manage, far better than nothing. I have read that just laying flat on the ground with your head shielded with your arms can make a big difference in your chances.

I would use any of these but also keep an eye on any rainfall and flooding. It wouldn't do to survive a tornado by sheltering in a culvert only to be drown when a wall of water from rainfall a mile away comes through.

As demonstrated on TV recently, avoid underpasses or other terrain or features that might channel and magnify the wind speed.

Even if it's a bad place for you to be, it's a good place for your car. Almost every time I remember a tornado watch included some pretty nasty hail. During a tornado watch, chances that you'll get hit by a tornado: low. Chances that your car will get hail damage: high. If you're close enough that a tornado destroys the overpass, your car would have been destroyed regardless of whether you parked it near or under the bridge.

Park your car under the bridge and go find a ditch. You'll probably be fine, modulo the bruises on your back from the golf ball sized hail, but at least you would save your car the hail damage.

Overpass=carburetor=wind speed multiplied.

Don't let the good fortune of a very few guide your decision.
I doubt we would go into the mountains in the winter and hope to survive because that family, the Kims IIRC, did.

PREPARE with acquisition of sound knowledge and skills. Here in OK every time a tornado watch is issued they never say "go hang out in an underpass". They say get low and stay low.

Thanks for all the info guys. much appreciated.

If the bridge is over a ditch lower than the surrounding landmass, then go for it.

If the bridge is over a roadway that is level with the landmass (overpass), it may be a death trap because the wind may accelerate under an overpass type bridge. All debris will be coming at you at higher speeds than the tornado itself possibly depending on how wide the overpass is.