Day 2 and some history lessons

Hi again,

Day 2 saw an early start for us in Grand Island, Nebraska (more on that place in a bit) as we hit the road for the 4 1/2 hour trip to Wichita, KS. In Wichita we met up with the rest of our chase team from WQAD in the Quad Cities and photographer Jim Reed who lives here.

After some planning and saftey discussions on how our caravan will work tomorrow when there should be plenty to chase (we hope), one cluster of storms moved into the area and we had a little bit of a practice run within a half hour of Wichita.

We got out in front of the storm, which shortly thereafter earned a severe t'storm warning and rode it out, looking for some hail. The storm had too high of a base to drop any tornadoes, and probably dumped most of its hail just south of us, but we did get some cool lightning, and got all of the little webcams figured out. Then it was back to the hotel to digest the model info and get some shut-eye for the big day tomorrow.

We have also been on a "greatest hits" tour for lack of a better phrase of tornado history.

Grand Island, Nebraska, of course, was the site of a significant tornado outbreak in 1980 in which 7 tornadoes, yes SEVEN, touched down in or very near the town. Grand Island outbreak.
If you or your kids ever had to read the book Night of the Twisters, or saw the made-for-tv movie, that is the actual event. In addition to the rarity of a town taking that many hits at once, about half of the tornadoes were rare "anti-cyclonic" tornadoes--meaning they spin clockwise instead of counter-clockwise like most. The tornadoes weren't straight either, usually looping back over their own paths!

We also drove through Andover, Kansas, site of a 1991 F5 tornado that killed 13 people. The tornado was featured in the Weather Channel documentary "The Enemy Wind" and is the same tornado in the clip of the guys that hide under the highway overpass after the tornado chased them down the turnpike. You've likely seen the clip and it's why many think that is a safe place to hide. Actually, it couldn't be any worse! The overpass acts as a wind tunnel and actually enhances the tornado's winds! DONT try this at home.


In 1991, camcorders (remember those) had really started to take hold and Andover was one of the first times widespread tornado footage was captured and helped launch the fascination with chaser videos. So it's fitting this is where we're going to start tomorrow.

--Brett