Brand New Footage of Andover Tornado

[Jeff Miller]

To my knowledge, this is brand new, just released footage of the April, 26, 1991 Andover Tornado.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84eHnxRyEV4

This was just posted February 28, 2010. It is said to be Original Video.

The tornado destroyed the owner's home.

- You can see a rare xenia-like Multiple Vortex phase.
- You can hear the police yelling for people to take immediate cover.
- This is one of the longest Andover videos I've encountered.
- This is one of the few showing a direct hit Andover approach.
- You can hear the distinct, thunderous tornado roar.
- The author also posted an "aftermath" video.

Hands down one of the top Andover videos I have ever encountered - and one of the most interesting tornado videos in general I've seen in some time. Andover Tornado researchers will go crazy over this.

Here is the link to the "Aftermath" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yjd8l9WJHQ&feature=response_watch

 

[Josh VonFeldt]

Great video, thanks for the link. Wish he would have kept it rolling even as he headed inside but I'm sure that wasn't the first thing on his mind.

 

[Mark Blue]

A guy has to wonder how many hidden jewels there are just like this of a family man who took tornado video and then never bothered to do anything with it because it was his, he knew where it was, and that's all that mattered. The scene there in Andover reminded me of what I saw in Grand Island the day after June 3, 1980. Like the man who shot the video said, "just piles of junk". It sure looked like strong F4 damage to me, but then I'm no expert in damage surveys. I wonder how long it was from the time he cut the tape off until the tornado hit his house? Couldn't of been more than a minute or two.

 

[Justin Wiley]

Thanks for the find! I'm a self-proclaimed "Andover freak" and this is definitely an amazing set of videos. It's nice to see another new view of the storm.

What a monster.

 

[D. Hayes]

You and me both Justin. I'm simply floored by this video maybe because it's only 5 miles away from me.

 

[Jake Wallentine]

Thanks Jeff. This really hits home for me too as this tornado passed less than a mile away from my home at the time in south Wichita. I was really young of course, but can still vaguely remember some eerie events from that day. Kind of disturbing to know that when he states, "Its in the exact same place it was.", he didn't realize this was because it was coming directly towards them.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

What a great video, thanks for posting!

The Andover tornado was the earliest big tornado event that I have in memory, I was only 10 years old at the time. I remember that day and watching the news coverage of it. My dad, who retired a few years ago but at the time he was working for KG&E, an electric company here in Kansas and I remember he was gone for about 2 weeks with the crew from KG&E to help out. He had some pictures of the damage, unfortunately those were lost in 1993 when our home was flooded and lost everything.

 

[Uday Verma]

Very nice video and very destructive tornado

 

[Adam Lucio]

Incredible set of videos, not to mention amusing commentary along the way.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

Ya its very good wonder if the guy taped anything during the tornado actually hitting them. My neighbor says his parents have a long home video of when this tornado moved on passed Andover to the NE taking it by towanda before roping out. Wonder if I could help get that out? Thats really the video gap of this tornado. Pretty much all the videos out there are from beginning to andover, but this tornado went another 10-15 miles after going crazy. Nice to have new video of such a powerfull and historic tornado. I was 6 at the time and lived in south wichita. Remember being in the trailer park tornado shelter for this one listening to KFDI.

 

[Jennifer Palmer]

GREAT find!!! What an amazing video!

 

[Jason Bolt]

The best part was the commentary.

WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP AND GO TO THE BASEMENT WOMAN

lolololololol

 

[Derek Weston]

The best part was the commentary.

WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP AND GO TO THE BASEMENT WOMAN

lolololololol

funny, but he seemed to be a bit of jerk... maybe just the stress of the situation.

 

[Mike Bennett]

This was also the same day of another historic tornado, the Billings-Red Rock tornado which formed 3 to 4 miles east of Enid,Ok. Another tornado occurred on the same day near Yale,OK not too long after the Andover and Billings-Red Rock storms. As I recall, the Andover and B-RR storms were occurring at the same time. What a day!

I wanted to chase back in those days, but didn't know what I was doing. As soon as I heard of a tornado on the ground east of Enid I grabbed my video camera, jumped in the pickup, had to fight traffic from the west side through town just to get out of town. (20 mins. lost) I was miles behind it the whole way.

 

[Mike Smith]

You can see some screen captures of me warning Andover along with other information here: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-video-of-1991-wichita-andover.html

There were four giant supercells that day. From the north, The first produced the F-3 Goddard Tornado that moved northeast and destroyed areas around Peabody.

The second was the Wichita-Andover supercell that produced its first tornado around Argonia. It also produced the "son of Andover" that moved northeast from El Dorado Lake along the Turnpike (F2) and prompted the infamous underpass video.

The third was the Cowley Co. supercell that produced a large tornado that passed near Strother Field (between Winfield and Ark City) and caused one fatality.

The fourth was the supercell that produced Red Rock.

Back in that day, "continuous coverage" was practically unheard of for TV meteorologists but we were sure doing it!

The prototype NEXRAD had been installed in OKC earlier that week and displayed couplets on both Red Rock and Cowley Co.

A historic day for many reasons.