Can anyone remember the pink tornado?

[Sam Kennedy]

Can anyone remember which tornado it was which sucked a field full of pink flowers and the tornado turns pink? I remember watching it years ago and I can not find it on youtube or google

Maybe someone here knows which it was?

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

It was the Andover KS tornado in May ????. I don't remember what year it was - though. Sorry...

 

[Brandon Ivey]

Wow, I have never heard of this one! I would like to see this video as well. I have never heard of a pink tornado due to flowers. That's interesting.

I chased a tornado on May 5th, 2001 north of Cordell, Oklahoma that was pink (if you were shooting from the right vantage point). This was due to the sun's low angle to the horizon though. It was not due to flowers.

Sorry I couldn't help with a link or reference to the tornado your talking about Sam.

 

[Brandon Ivey]

The Andover tornado was April 26th, 1991. It was on a Friday afternoon, but I don't remember any photos or video of it being pink.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

It took place before Mother's Day; I don't temember what year it was. There was a large plant nursery filled with Pink Geraniums ('flowers') that was a direct hit by a powerful, tall, and narrow EF3-4 tornado. I don't know if any still pictures exist, but I know there was movie film of the event.

 

[Darin Brunin]

It was the Andover tornado on 4/26/91 when it hit a geranium farm

 

[Rick Schmidt]

On one show the narrator said that about the tornado being pink because of the flowers, but I don't believe that scenerio. I think it was do to the angle of the sun hitting it for a brief time. Could you imagine how many millions of tons of flowers it would take to turn something that large pink? I believe Jon Davies shot that video, so he might have an opinion.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

I absolutely remember seeing that video a long time ago. And I certainly remember the narrator mentioning the pink. They freezeframed it at the moment of impact and yes, for a mere split second, you see a burst of pinkish red. But it certainly didn't turn the whole thing that color.

Melanie

 

[Chad Cowan]

Yeah, it didn't turn the whole thing pink but even with the not-so-great quality of the video I saw, there was an obvious pink hue in the debris field for a short time. Kinda like Jason Boggs' avatar, only pink:

 

[Darin Brunin]

It's at :58 in this video from what I can tell...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_SRimynSSs

 

[Bob Hartig]

As soon as I read "pink tornado," I knew you were talking about the Andover storm, and I knew the video segment you were talking about. It starts at around 1:25 in the above clip. First I've seen the :58 shot, but it looks pretty convincing, and I'm betting it was taken at the same time from another vantage point.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I'm wondering if the tornado was really that pink in actuality. The consumer video cameras of that era weren't great at color reproduction, and unnatural or exaggerated hues, particularly in white areas, seem to happen a lot with the older analog cameras. The clip at 1:25 almost seems like the white balance/iris is struggling with the scene, as the whites change a little (increasingly blue) through the clip.

Of course, I wasn't there, so I can't say one way or another. Did the pink description come from an eyewitness, or was it an after-the-fact observation of the video?

 

[Bob Hartig]

I'm not sure of the video I saw it on, but the narration described the tornado as turning momentarily pink when it hit a greenhouse with a bunch of geraniums. Seems to me that it may have been one of the three Tornado Video Classics.

I know what you're saying about the funky white balance on old camcorders, but don't go by the YouTube clip. As I recall, in the footage I watched, which was of a better quality, you can see the tornado suddenly "go pink." Also, after it crosses the highway, a really nice rainbow emerges and frames the tornado--a dramatic and ironic shot.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Still that would be a heck of a geranium patch to fill a major atmospheric column with geranium flower debris. Anybody with a quick math formula for this LOL ??

 

[Jon Davies]

I shot that video, it was from the Andover, KS tornado while it was moving through south Wichita. As others have pointed out, the pinkish hue was from the sun at a low angle intermittently illuminating the lower part of the tornado. The tornado did hit a greenhouse, but that was not the cause of the pink color. It's a fun rumor, but not true.

Jon Davies
Trimble, MO