4/26/91: Andover, Kansas F5 tornado

[shane turner]

I remember this day quite well even though I was only ten-years old. I turned on TWC to watch the local forecast and the weekly planner before catching the bus to school. One of the meteorologists showed a map of the US and there was a high risk of severe weather colored in pink over a good portion of Kansas and Oklahoma. The meteorologist mentioned this was going to be an extremely dangerous day in Kansas and Oklahoma. Then some feeling came over me that something truly horrible was going to happen. My mom and dad were working at St. Joseph hospital in Wichita and my dad got home earlier that day than my mom did. My dads friend and my mom got off of work later and only missed that tornado by 30 minutes. I was at my sisters apartment in Emporia, Kansas for it had a basement and tornadoes were touching down everywhere. The meteorologist on TWC was stating about the Andover tornado and that it was on the turnpike and I got really worried it would hit Emporia for I knew tornadoes could live a long time. Most of my family lives in the Sedgwick and Butler county Kansas and was worried about them. I found out later that they were all safe and I was so glad. In fact with the exception of me and one of my nieces born in Emporia, almost all my family members were born in Sedgwick or Butler county Kansas. It turned out to be a truly scary and it was unfortunate it killed 17 people and 13 came from the mobile home park near US 54. I wondered how many of you may have chased that day and experienced this tornado or any other one. In addition, I believe this was the day of the Red Rock, Oklahoma tornado that may also had been an F5.

[Lanny Dean]

The 4-26-91 event was my first "real" chase and my first tornado.
I remember hearing/seeing the first tornado watch go out that afternoon on local TV and decided to drive out west to see what I could see. Was lucky enough to get the Billings/Red rock tor. without getting myself killed!
It was an eventful and memorable day for me and one that I won't forget.

[Damon Scott Hynes]

Two supercells went over Omaha, I was stuck in the basement of my work when the first one went over and hailed the heck out of my car. I managed to head home as the supercell that had previously dropped the Palmyra F3 went over my house in Springfield. There was a good RFB, wall cloud and middling rotation, and for the first time in my chasing life I was keeping an eye on the ground beneath it rather than just on the sky!

[Jared Farrer]

I remember this day quite well even though I was only ten-years old. I turned on TWC to watch the local forecast and the weekly planner before catching the bus to school. One of the meteorologists showed a map of the US and there was a high risk of severe weather colored in pink over a good portion of Kansas and Oklahoma. The meteorologist mentioned this was going to be an extremely dangerous day in Kansas and Oklahoma. Then some feeling came over me that something truly horrible was going to happen. My mom and dad were working at St. Joseph hospital in Wichita and my dad got home earlier that day than my mom did. My dads friend and my mom got off of work later and only missed that tornado by 30 minutes. I was at my sisters apartment in Emporia, Kansas for it had a basement and tornadoes were touching down everywhere. The meteorologist on TWC was stating about the Andover tornado and that it was on the turnpike and I got really worried it would hit Emporia for I knew tornadoes could live a long time. Most of my family lives in the Sedgwick and Butler county Kansas and was worried about them. I found out later that they were all safe and I was so glad. In fact with the exception of me and one of my nieces born in Emporia, almost all my family members were born in Sedgwick or Butler county Kansas. It turned out to be a truly scary and it was unfortunate it killed 17 people and 13 came from the mobile home park near US 54. I wondered how many of you may have chased that day and experienced this tornado or any other one. In addition, I believe this was the day of the Red Rock, Oklahoma tornado that may also had been an F5.

Yes this was the same outbreak that spawned the Red Rock Tornado! That was also a nasty tornado. Howie B. ended up on the red rock storm as well as many other chasers, Prentice, Moore etc. In fact I recommend checking out old images of the red rock cell, structure was amazing!

That was one of the days that was instrumental to me wanting to be a chaser. I remember the day vividly and I was only 8 years old. Yeah forecasts were picking this thing up a week out. And the day of, weather offices were using wording that just struck fear into people. I am not sure of the setup exactly, but I am going to try and find stuff.

[Tim Marshall]

April 26, 1991 - Another top ten chase for me. Carson Eads and I left Dallas that morning and headed to my target of Wellington, KS. We headed west from I-45 and intercepted a supercell near Anthony, KS that produced several tornadoes. We followed the storm through Clearwater and on to Wichita. Unfortunately, we were stopped by downed power lines and debris on the road at I-35. We aborted the chase and began doing damage assessments in south Wichita. We continued the damage survey the next day and then headed south to do a survey of the Red Rock tornado. IMO, Red Rock was just as strong as the Andover tornado.
tm

[Tim Vasquez]

Here is the quick & dirty of the setup that day.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/h250-910426-1200.jpg
4/26/91 1200 UTC 250 mb.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/h500-910426-1200.jpg
4/26/91 1200 UTC 500 mb.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/h700-910426-1200.jpg
4/26/91 1200 UTC 700 mb.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/h850-910426-1200.jpg
4/26/91 1200 UTC 850 mb.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/hsfc-910426-1800.jpg
4/26/91 1800 UTC surface.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/satv-910426-1800.jpg
4/26/91 1800 UTC visible.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/skew-910426-1200-oun.jpg
4/26/91 1200 UTC Norman OK.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/91apr26/skew-910426-1200-top.jpg
4/26/91 1200 UTC Topeka KS.

Tim

[Mike Smith]

One of my most memorable days professionally...

A couple of points about that day. Tim graciously posted the 18Z satellite image. Note the cluster of thunderstorms centered near MKC. That area of storms was centered between ICT and PNC at roughly 7-8am (from memory). Cowley Co. had a SVR and Kay Co. a TOR warning that morning.

It cleared, allowing the airmass to recover. SELS issued the first PDS tornado watch I had ever seen.

The area of cirrus in western Kansas was the leading edge of the PVA. When it hit the dry line, the storms exploded.

Note that it is a negatively-tilted trough.

The Centers for Disease Control did a study on the effects of the warnings and found (again from memory) that something like 70 lives were saved by the warnings.

[Gabe Garfield]

Thanks for posting those maps, Tim! It's really incredible to see the conditions antecedent to such a tremendous outbreak.

I remember this day only vaguely, since I was "young whippersnapper" at the time. One thing I do recall very vividly (I lived in Stillwater, OK at the time) is the way the clouds were just screaming to the north, even during the afternoon of the 26th. I remember how hot and humid it was, and yet it was quite windy; even to my young mind, I remember thinking that that was unusual. Stillwater was spared (unlike the year before), and somehow, I was unaware that there was an extremely violent tornado just 30 miles to my northwest (Red Rock tornado).

[Paul Knightley]

Oddly, even though I was over 4000 miles away (in SW England), I can remember this. Of course, for us, it was the day after when the news broke, but my Mum came rushing into the garden to alert me that there was a "tornado on the news".

[Justin Wiley]

This may not be the exact place to ask, but Tim (or anyone else), how does someone acquire satellite images, maps, and observations of past events, such as the Andover one? I know searching around on the net can help, but it appears you have one dedicated source.

Thanks.

[Bobby Prentice]

April 26, 1991 was one of my best chase days in 20+ years of storm chasing. Here are my video clips from the Red Rock, Oklahoma F4 tornado and the F5 damage survey at Andover, KS:

1991 April 26 Red Rock, Oklahoma Tornado (part 1 of 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoXjHFler9w)
1991 April 26 Red Rock, Oklahoma Tornado (part 2 of 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUJJH_MSZI)
1991 April 26 Red Rock Tornado at Fairfax, OK (part 3 of 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf90f57PtZQ)
1991 April 27 Andover, Kansas F5 Tornado Damage Survey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTWQcN6JytQ)

[John Lavin]

This may not be the exact place to ask, but Tim (or anyone else), how does someone acquire satellite images, maps, and observations of past events, such as the Andover one? I know searching around on the net can help, but it appears you have one dedicated source.

Thanks.
Justin, I suggest this site http://w1.spc.woc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/events/index.html although it only goes back to 2000.

For past nexrad data I would suggest NCDC database achieves here: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radardata.html these files can be viewed in a pretty easy java based program which you can download for free here: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/wct/


And I can't add to much to this storm other than this is probably the first tornado footage I ever saw as a kid. My parents actually have an old video tape produced by KSN TV in Wichita about this day. Most famous one is of course the reporters taking people under the overpass as a small tornado passed them by..

[Jay Cazel]

A friend of mine is moving back to Wichita, and he was with me on the day the Andover tornado. While packing up and going thru things he found the pictures we took that day and the day after. The thing I remember most was sitting at 47th street south and Rock Road and watching the tornado go across McConnell AFB.

At that time my company had the video games and such out that the air base. That tornado hit every building that we had games in but one, most all came out okay but the jukebox at bowling alley. The only thing I found was the dollar bill unit, the rest was gone. The other damage pics are of Boeing and a house in Haysville.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel1-1.jpg (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel1-1.jpg)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel2.jpg (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel2.jpg)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel3.jpg (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel3.jpg)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel4.jpg (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel4.jpg)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel5.jpg (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel5.jpg)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel6.jpg (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoFunnel6.jpg)


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91TornadoDamage4.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91TornadoDamage3.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91TornadoDamage2.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91TornadoDamage1.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoDamage3.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoDamage5.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoDamage4.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoDamage2.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa149/jaycazel/91AndoverTornadoDamage1.jpg

[Eric Flescher]

I sure have missed a lot of good chase days because I was either teaching, working on my doctorate, doing my computer camps and more.

I was presenting at a science education conference further out West in Kansas that day. It never dawned on me dangerous storms were going to fire further East that day as I was focused on presenting etc. Coming back I heard about it. I always show the Andover tornado video (too bad the guy got fired for showing the video!).

Meanwhile, a year before, the Hesston tornado took place. I still have the newspaper copy of the photo of this monster. This photo is the one that is burned into my memory with the monster standing tall over the highway with the trucks on the highway.Wish I could have gotten a chance to see it up close.
http://www.kansas.com/926/gallery/749220.html

But lately I was able to get my closest and best look, photos and video of a tornado. We calculated that the two guys and I were with on the Kirksville, MO tornado that it was 2.5 miles away when we camped out and that it was going at 38 mph and coming straight for us. The account and photos are at
http://stormsatori-kcstormguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/our-remarkable-close-encounter-with.html

::
April 26, 1991 was one of my best chase days in 20+ years of storm chasing. Here are my video clips from the Red Rock, Oklahoma F4 tornado and the F5 damage survey at Andover, KS:

1991 April 26 Red Rock, Oklahoma Tornado (part 1 of 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoXjHFler9w)
1991 April 26 Red Rock, Oklahoma Tornado (part 2 of 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUJJH_MSZI)
1991 April 26 Red Rock Tornado at Fairfax, OK (part 3 of 3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf90f57PtZQ)
1991 April 27 Andover, Kansas F5 Tornado Damage Survey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTWQcN6JytQ)

[Jon Holder]

I was 18 and was a CAP member back then. Our state headquarters was on base and was a short block and a half from the dining hall. Our building took some serious structural damage (wasn't found until a couple years after the storm) and we lost several vehicles to flying debris. Debris from the Wichita storm was found all the way up to St. Joseph, Mo. Stuff like check stubs from homes in Andover and as heavy as a box of syringes with military stock numbers on it found in a backyard in Topeka, no doubt from the base clinic at McConnell.

We (CAP) were down assisting in the cleanup, both on base and in the Golden Spur trailer park. I spent half of Saturday on McConnell AFB, then the rest of the day and Sunday in the Golden Spur. The SP's on base had set up perimeters around the major facilities hit, like the credit union, the base exchange and the like to prevent further loss. They were using their POV's to patrol because I assume they lost so many units in the storm.

The Golden Spur, as well as the residential homes around it, taught me that while basements were a little safer than standing outside in front of a tornado doing your best impersonation of William Wallis (lifting your kilt at it in anger a la Braveheart), there were better options. The Andover mayor took a lot of heat for how they handled the Golden Spur rescue/recovery/cleanup. Conventional wisdom at the time was they destroyed and burned about as much of the resident's belongings that remained intact afterward than the storm destroyed.