Andover KS tornado from 1991...

[Joel Wright]

I just finished watching a long clip of this tornado. With the first shot being from McConnel (sp?) airforce base. And then a long clip from apparently north of Andover looking south as it passes about a 1/2 mile from the camera. First off, whoever took the vid from the airforce base had some major balls!! Very impressive to say the least. It was interesting to see it grow from a rather meager tornado to a monster by the time it left the base. What's really interesting is the shot from north of Andover looking south. The visibility is amazing showing probably the best structure and movement I've ever seen!! I was wondering why there was no precip falling where the vid was being taken. Was this view from inside the "bears cage?" If that's the case it must have been a really large bear cage. I would love to see a radar image of this storm if anyone has it.

 

[Joel Wright]

No comments? :cry:

 

[GPhillips]

Can't answer the bear's cage question, but you likely won't find a radar loop of it. The nearest 88D was in Norman OK at the time, the storm was obviously far away, and there is no NCDC archive of the data. The Red Rock supercell from that day was unbelievably classic on the Norman 88D however. At the time, ICT had a WSR-57 radar, and the only archive of that imagery would be in black and white film somewhere.

 

[Bryce Stone]

First off, whoever took the vid from the airforce base had some major balls

I assume you're talking about the hailstones, right? What size balls are we talking here? Golfballs? Softballs? Baseballs?

But seriously, I've seen several storms where the wall cloud/tornado was approachable/viewable from almost any direction. The rotating wall cloud near Rock, Kansas was one of these (from the same storm that produced the Mulvane tornado).

Also the recent storm in Cromwell, Oklahoma which produced a tornado had a rotating wall cloud which was accessable from every direction (except perhaps directly east of it). It is certainly not unheard of for the area of interest to be free of rain in the surrounding area.

But yes, the Andover tornado video is very impressive.

 

[Mike Smith]

There are many videos of the Wichita-Andover tornado and none of them captured a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt nor contain the sound of thunder. The National Lightning Detection Network, such that it was at the time, showed a grand total of one CG in Sedgwick Co. Storm top as measured by WeatherData's/KSNW TV's WSR-74C in downtown Wichita was over 50,000 ft. I have always wondered why there was so little lightning.

With regard to the radar, there was an excellent hook echo on the storm...it was straightforward to warn on. I have a number of still images of the hook. Please email me and I will be happy to forward them to you.

There were two tornadoes from two supercells in Sedgwick County at the same time. The F2 (if I recall correctly) Goddward tornado and the stronger Wichita-Andover storm from the southern supercell. Both supercells produced muliple tornadoes.

 

[Joel Wright]

Where can I find this clip? Is it on the internet?

I've seen these two vid clips on a number of different tornado videos. The best one I've seen is from a VHS tape called "Tornadoes!! The Entity." The best thing about this video is it shows a lot of uncut video footage.

 

[Glenn Rivers]

Andover "bearcage"

Good observations by Joel!

 

[Glenn Rivers]

I just finished watching a long clip of this tornado. With the first shot being from McConnel (sp?) airforce base. And then a long clip from apparently north of Andover looking south as it passes about a 1/2 mile from the camera. First off, whoever took the vid from the airforce base had some major balls!! Very impressive to say the least. It was interesting to see it grow from a rather meager tornado to a monster by the time it left the base. What's really interesting is the shot from north of Andover looking south. The visibility is amazing showing probably the best structure and movement I've ever seen!! I was wondering why there was no precip falling where the vid was being taken. Was this view from inside the "bears cage?" If that's the case it must have been a really large bear cage. I would love to see a radar image of this storm if anyone has it.

I also have noticed the lack of precip in both segments of the video. My impression is that the structure of the Andover supercell was such that almost all of the precip was sheared out way downwind of the storm's updraft, creating a broad, "smeared out" FFD precip area such that all of the precip tapered off before the meso arrived. There seemed to be absolutly no wrap-around of precip in the meso. The almost total lack of CG activity while the Andover tornado was down was very interesting. I think that I read that there was only one CG+ during the whole time the large tornado was on the ground. What a contrast with Mulvane!!!

I suspect that the smearing out of precip over a large area downwind of the updraft alowed a lot of evaporation in the dry air at mid levels, giving the Andover storm had a very low ratio of precipitation to avaporation. Likely lots of water was lost as the anvil sheared forward, and precip evaporated in the dry air under the anvil but above the moist mixed layer.
_________________

 

[Greg Stumpf]

I also have noticed the lack of precip in both segments of the video. My impression is that the structure of the Andover supercell was such that almost all of the precip was sheared out way downwind of the storm's updraft, creating a broad, "smeared out" FFD precip area such that all of the precip tapered off before the meso arrived. There seemed to be absolutly no wrap-around of precip in the meso.

My recollection of both videos is different. The Air Force Base video clearly shows pretty heavy precip hook falling at the location of the videographer immediately following the tornado. Also, the second video taken at the Terradyne Country Club, after the tornado passes, there is a signficant golfball or larger hail fall as the back side of the hook passes overhead.

However, I will agree that this was a pretty classic supercell, with most of the visible precip in the forward flank.

 

[Mike Smith]

IAB was 81/69 as the tornado approached.

 

[Matt Schuch]

hi, im am trying to find video footage of the witchita/andover tornado. i already have the "Tornadoes!!! the entity" video and many others. if anybody knows where i could find some, that would be great.

 

[Mike Smith]

Matt,

KSNW TV produced a good special television show on the storm. You might write them (833 N. Main, 67203) and see if they have any left.

Mike