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April 26, 1991 Tornado Outbreak

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St. Catharines, Ontario
Today is the 27 year anniversary of one of the most intense Plains outbreaks ever recorded in April. The outbreak was very similar to the 4/14/2012 outbreak in terms of overall conditions, timing and location, but with many more strong/violent tornadoes.

The best known tornado from this outbreak would be the Andover, Kansas F5, which is probably in the top 10 strongest tornadoes ever recorded. The wind-rowing and debris granulation left behind was some of the most extreme ever witnessed, and it was one of only a few tornadoes to actually rip apart vehicles and scatter the pieces for hundreds of yards.

The Red Rock, Oklahoma F4 gets talked about a fair bit around here, but is surprisingly obscure compared to the Andover tornado. Although it went through rural areas, the damage it left was extreme in places and the recorded winds of 286 miles per hour are still the third-highest ever recorded in a tornado. The damage intensity, path length and extreme recorded winds are very similar to the El Reno EF5 (which, weirdly enough touched down almost exactly 20 years and one month after the Andover tornado):
upload_2018-4-26_23-28-39.png

There were other tornadoes that would have been considered historic on 4/26/91, but have been overshadowed by the Andover and, to a point, the Red Rock tornadoes. The Ooglah, Oklahoma tornado, for instance, took place in an area that's normally a dead zone for violent tornadoes.

Overall I would consider the 4/26/91 outbreak one of the most intense and important outbreaks on record in the Plains in April.
 
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346
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Location
Lenexa, KS
Today is the 27 year anniversary of one of the most intense Plains outbreaks ever recorded in April. The outbreak was very similar to the 4/14/2012 outbreak in terms of overall conditions, timing and location, but with many more strong/violent tornadoes.

The best known tornado from this outbreak would be the Andover, Kansas F5, which is probably in the top 10 strongest tornadoes ever recorded. The wind-rowing and debris granulation left behind was some of the most extreme ever witnessed, and it was one of only a few tornadoes to actually rip apart vehicles and scatter the pieces for hundreds of yards.

The Red Rock, Oklahoma F4 gets talked about a fair bit around here, but is surprisingly obscure compared to the Andover tornado. Although it went through rural areas, the damage it left was extreme in places and the recorded winds of 286 miles per hour are still the third-highest ever recorded in a tornado. The damage intensity, path length and extreme recorded winds are very similar to the El Reno EF5 (which, weirdly enough touched down almost exactly 20 years and one month after the Andover tornado):
View attachment 672

There were other tornadoes that would have been considered historic on 4/26/91, but have been overshadowed by the Andover and, to a point, the Red Rock tornadoes. The Ooglah, Oklahoma tornado, for instance, took place in an area that's normally a dead zone for violent tornadoes.

Overall I would consider the 4/26/91 outbreak one of the most intense and important outbreaks on record in the Plains in April.
The Andover tornado reminds me of the Bridge Creek/Moore/OKC on May 3, 1999 because both of them crossed the I-35 corridor. They are like sister tornadoes as both of them were also extremely violent. The Andover tornado gave rise to the idea it is ok to go under an overpass. However the Andover tornado had considerably weakened to F1 or F2 intensity but the Bridge Creek/Moore/OKC tornado was likely F4 or F5 intensity when it went under an overpass blowing several people out and some to their death. Had the Andover tornado had crossed an overpass at peak intensity it would have been a similar situation but unfortunately we did not find out until the Bridge Creek/Moore/OKc tornado in 1999.
 
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