After chasing with Scott for nearly 15 years, I can confidently say there are few days that test our mettle. When we go out, we have a sense of how the day could play out and prepare ourselves for bad a particular setup could be. But it always seems there is that one day each year that will leave you guessing right to the end.
Friday, April 29, 2022 was that day.
Even though our day started slow, by the time it was over, we would need every bit of the 40-plus years of storm chasing experience we had in the vehicle.
Rare is it that Scott and I have a third chaser in the vehicle with us, but for this day, we were joined by fellow KWCH chaser Lance Ferguson. Lance’s intuition is what makes him a great chaser and it came to the forefront in spades on this evening.
The Morning Of…
Most chase days start off with an initial conversation between Scott and me around 9 am, to discuss the morning outlook, check on how the computer models are handling the environment, and where our initial target might be. Most of Eastern Kansas was placed in an Enhanced (level 3 out of 5) risk for severe weather, with the potential for strong tornadoes, especially east of the Kansas Turnpike.
The modeling indicated there would be storms in northern Kansas, which was a slam dunk. But, there was just enough of a cap (layer of warm air above the surface) that limited the coverage of storms. Still. we knew if one or two supercells developed and moved through southern Kansas, they would be capable of strong tornadoes. The obvious play was for us to stay close to home and track anything that developed in southern Kansas.
Courtesy Pivotal Weather
The Afternoon…
The atmosphere continued to bubble and simmer under the strong April sun, aided by a stout south wind. Scott, Lance, and I would meet up around 3:45 that afternoon, shortly after the tornado watch was issued for all of eastern Kansas. It wasn’t long until storms started to develop near Newton, but we made the decision early on not to get out of position and let the chase crowds handle that area.
We sat in a parking lot west of Derby and watch the atmosphere percolate, hit the capping inversion, and the clouds come fall apart. This agonizing process went on for what felt like forever but was really about two hours. In that time, we shifted positions from east of Derby to northeast of Wichita to Park City, and the atmosphere remained steady state, while the main show was happening to our north.
It wasn’t until we stopped in Park City around 5:45 and looked to the southwest when Lance and I noticed a persistent area of towering cumulus clouds and some grunge on radar that wasn’t moving. Our interest was piqued, but we were unsure if one had anything to do with the other. We also noted some development to our north around the Sedgwick/Harvey county line and we made a move to check out the storm
The Chase is On…
Around 7 that evening, we intercepted the storm around Furley in northeast Sedgwick County. It’s our experience that the first storm of the day will tell you a story about the state of the atmosphere. This storm told us a lot.
We went through some nickel to quarter-size hail in the core of the storm, and when we pulled over to look at the base of the storm, we were surprised to see a weak rotating wall cloud to our southwest.
Looking southwest at a wall cloud from north of Furley
The storm weakened as it moved overhead, but it was a sign that a storm could produce in this environment. Again, Lance’s intuition convinced us to continue south on Butler Road to the strengthening storm in eastern Sedgwick County. As we moved south, we entered the front lip of the storm and noticed crisp towers in the forward flank of the storm, indicating to us the storm was very strong.
We went through Andover, and while going through town, had a chance encounter with some Andover police officers to tell them about the incoming storm. It was just before 8 pm when we arrived at Andover Road and Southwest 140th road, roughly 3 miles south of Andover. As we sit on the dirt road, we notice that the storm does not appear to have a wall cloud at all, but there was broad rotation to our west. Another thing we noticed was the presence of a shear funnel to our north, which is indicative of the atmosphere in the lowest heights of the atmosphere being ready to spin.
Once we reported the shear funnel, a tornado warning was issued for our storm. Almost as soon as we turned our heads back down the dirt road (looking west) when we noticed a dust swirl just to the right of the road. It was rotating and there was an elevated funnel, indicating we indeed had a tornado. This happened in the span of just 40 seconds.
From there, we documented it as the tornado moved from our west to our northeast.
Initial touchdown of the Andover tornado
We tried to keep up with the tornado, however, we wanted to avoid the emergency response ongoing in town. We finally broke off the chase at Santa Fe Lake Road and US 54 to go back and attempt to render aid in Andover. Thankfully, because of the quick response by emergency crews, our help was not needed.
Members Get More
Additional details are available for these membership levels:
BasicEnthusiast
Keep Up to Date - Enable Notifications
OK
No thanks
1 - Query:
SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'siteurl' LIMIT 1
Time: 0.644 ms
2 - Query:
SELECT * FROM wp_pmpro_membership_levels
Time: 0.167 ms
3 - Query:
SET time_zone = "+00:00"
Time: 0.275 ms
4 - Query:
SELECT t0.name AS name_1, t0.value AS value_2, t0.id AS id_3, t0.created_at AS created_at_4, t0.updated_at AS updated_at_5 FROM wp_mailpoet_settings t0
Time: 0.370 ms
5 - Query:
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp\\_ewwwio\\_images'
Time: 0.920 ms
6 - Query:
select option_name, option_value from wp_options where option_name like 'mcloud%'
Time: 1.079 ms
7 - Query:
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp_mcloud_pending_optimizations'
Time: 0.759 ms
8 - Query:
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp_mcloud_bg_optimizations'
Time: 0.489 ms
9 - Query:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'dbb845775ff53c4a11a5569812f8843b49'
AND table_name IN ('wp_toolset_associations', 'wp_toolset_connected_elements', 'wp_toolset_relationships', 'wp_toolset_type_sets')
Time: 0.876 ms
10 - Query:
SELECT count(w0_.id) AS sclr_0 FROM wp_mailpoet_subscribers w0_ WHERE w0_.deleted_at IS NULL AND w0_.status IN ('subscribed', 'unconfirmed', 'inactive')
Time: 0.487 ms
11 - Query:
SELECT a.action_id FROM wp_actionscheduler_actions a LEFT JOIN wp_actionscheduler_groups g ON g.group_id=a.group_id WHERE 1=1 AND g.slug='mailpoet-cron' AND a.hook='mailpoet/cron/daemon-trigger' AND a.args='[]' AND a.status IN ('in-progress', 'pending') LIMIT 0, 1
Time: 0.583 ms
12 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.trigger_key
FROM `wp_mailpoet_automations` AS a
JOIN `wp_mailpoet_automation_triggers` as t
WHERE a.status = 'active' AND a.id = t.automation_id
ORDER BY trigger_key DESC
Time: 0.303 ms
13 - Query:
SELECT id FROM wp_pmpro_membership_levels LIMIT 1
Time: 0.512 ms
14 - Query:
SELECT id FROM wp_pmpro_membership_levels WHERE allow_signups = 1 AND (initial_payment > 0 OR billing_amount > 0 OR trial_amount > 0) LIMIT 1
Time: 0.101 ms
15 - Query:
SELECT user_id FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_users WHERE initial_payment > 0 OR billing_amount > 0 OR trial_amount > 0 LIMIT 1
Time: 0.063 ms
16 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT meta_value FROM wp_postmeta
WHERE meta_key = '_view_loop_template'
AND meta_value != '0'
ORDER BY post_id
Time: 0.418 ms
17 - Query:
SELECT ID, post_name, post_parent, post_type
FROM wp_posts
WHERE post_name IN ('prepare-2023-andover-ef-3-tornado-2022-retrospective')
AND post_type IN ('page','attachment')
Time: 0.693 ms
18 - Query:
SELECT wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_name = 'prepare-2023-andover-ef-3-tornado-2022-retrospective' AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post'
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
Time: 0.628 ms
19 - Query:
SELECT autoload FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'pmpro_visits' LIMIT 1
Time: 0.605 ms
20 - Query:
SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `wp_options`
Time: 0.865 ms
21 - Query:
UPDATE `wp_options` SET `option_value` = 'a:9:{s:5:\"today\";i:683;s:8:\"thisdate\";s:10:\"2025-16-05\";s:4:\"week\";i:8081;s:8:\"thisweek\";s:2:\"20\";s:5:\"month\";i:30660;s:9:\"thismonth\";s:1:\"5\";s:3:\"ytd\";i:231787;s:8:\"thisyear\";s:4:\"2025\";s:7:\"alltime\";i:1449011;}' WHERE `option_name` = 'pmpro_visits'
Time: 0.597 ms
22 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta
ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1
ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND ( ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_enabled'
AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'yes' ) )
AND post_title = 'prepare-2023-andover-ef-3-tornado-2022-retrospective/'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
AND post_status = 'publish'
AND ( ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'only_not_logged_in' )
OR ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'both' ) )
Time: 0.922 ms
23 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1
AND post_title = 'prepare-2023-andover-ef-3-tornado-2022-retrospective/'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
Time: 0.254 ms
24 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta
ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1
ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND ( ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_enabled'
AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'yes' ) )
AND post_title = ''
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
AND post_status = 'publish'
AND ( ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'only_not_logged_in' )
OR ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'both' ) )
Time: 0.069 ms
25 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1
AND post_title = ''
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
Time: 0.042 ms
26 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta
ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1
ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND ( ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_enabled'
AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'yes' ) )
AND post_title = 'prepare-2023-andover-ef-3-tornado-2022-retrospective'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
AND post_status = 'publish'
AND ( ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'only_not_logged_in' )
OR ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'both' ) )
Time: 0.362 ms
27 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1
AND post_title = 'prepare-2023-andover-ef-3-tornado-2022-retrospective'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
Time: 0.180 ms
28 - Query:
SELECT p.ID FROM wp_posts AS p WHERE p.post_date < '2023-03-09 18:01:55' AND p.post_type = 'post' AND p.post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY p.post_date DESC LIMIT 1
Time: 0.802 ms
29 - Query:
SELECT p.ID FROM wp_posts AS p WHERE p.post_date > '2023-03-09 18:01:55' AND p.post_type = 'post' AND p.post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY p.post_date ASC LIMIT 1
Time: 0.755 ms
30 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category', 'post_tag', 'wpmf_tag', 'event') AND tr.object_id IN (116761)
ORDER BY t.name ASC
Time: 0.330 ms
31 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category') AND tr.object_id IN (116761)
ORDER BY tt.parent DESC
Time: 0.282 ms
32 - Query:
SELECT autoload FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'pmpro_views' LIMIT 1
Time: 0.630 ms
33 - Query:
UPDATE `wp_options` SET `option_value` = 'a:9:{s:5:\"today\";i:601;s:8:\"thisdate\";s:10:\"2025-16-05\";s:4:\"week\";i:8283;s:8:\"thisweek\";s:2:\"20\";s:5:\"month\";i:31910;s:9:\"thismonth\";s:1:\"5\";s:3:\"ytd\";i:232258;s:8:\"thisyear\";s:4:\"2025\";s:7:\"alltime\";i:942301;}' WHERE `option_name` = 'pmpro_views'
Time: 0.440 ms
34 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category') AND tr.object_id IN (116761)
ORDER BY t.name ASC
Time: 0.315 ms
35 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('post_tag') AND tr.object_id IN (116761)
ORDER BY t.name ASC
Time: 0.223 ms
36 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(1) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '116761')
Time: 0.177 ms
37 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(1) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '116761')
Time: 0.377 ms
38 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(1) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '116761')
Time: 0.263 ms
39 - Query:
SELECT wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE ID IN (117328,117333,117338)
Time: 0.652 ms
40 - Query:
SELECT post_id, meta_key, meta_value FROM wp_postmeta WHERE post_id IN (117328,117333,117338) ORDER BY meta_id ASC
Time: 0.997 ms
41 - Query:
SELECT post_id, meta_value FROM wp_postmeta WHERE meta_key = '_wp_attached_file' AND meta_value = '2023/03/kaqUKwFf-NAM-Fcst-Sounding-430-01z.png'
Time: 26.908 ms
42 - Query:
SELECT post_id, meta_value FROM wp_postmeta WHERE meta_key = '_wp_attached_file' AND meta_value = '2023/03/Furley-Wall.jpg'
Time: 25.575 ms
43 - Query:
SELECT post_id, meta_value FROM wp_postmeta WHERE meta_key = '_wp_attached_file' AND meta_value = '2023/03/Tornado-Genesis.jpeg'
Time: 25.583 ms
44 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(1) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '116761')
Time: 0.345 ms
45 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT(mp.page_id)
FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp
LEFT JOIN wp_posts p ON mp.page_id = p.ID
WHERE p.post_type IN('page', 'post')
Time: 1.144 ms
46 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT(tr.object_id)
FROM wp_term_relationships tr
LEFT JOIN wp_posts p ON tr.object_id = p.ID
WHERE tr.term_taxonomy_id IN(
SELECT category_id
FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories
)
AND p.post_type IN('page', 'post')
Time: 0.276 ms
47 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(20,153) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '128006')
Time: 0.265 ms
48 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(20,153) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '128033')
Time: 0.248 ms
49 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(23) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '127306')
Time: 0.520 ms
50 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(23) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '127215')
Time: 0.323 ms
51 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_forms` where `status` = 'published' and `id` = '19' limit 1
Time: 0.376 ms
52 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = 'formSettings' limit 1
Time: 0.109 ms
53 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = '_ff_selected_style' limit 1
Time: 0.296 ms
54 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` in ('_custom_form_css', '_custom_form_js')
Time: 0.318 ms
55 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` in ('_ff_form_styler_css', '_ff_selected_style', 'ffs_default')
Time: 0.172 ms
56 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where (`form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = 'ffs_default') limit 1
Time: 0.257 ms
57 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where (`form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = '_ff_form_styles') limit 1
Time: 0.133 ms