1974 Xenia Ohio F5 Tornado
Here is rare video of F5 Tornado that hit Xenia Ohio during the Superoutbreak. This Rare Video from 8mm Video Camera has sound and shows Multple Vortices. This tornado caused 0 Million dollars in Damage and caused 36 Deaths. This F5 Tornado is one of Strongest Tornadoes ever Recorded.
Tagged with: F5 • Multiple • Ohio • outbreak • super • Tornado • vortex • Xenia
Filed under: Tornado
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Umm that is a wedge. A stovepipe is the same width at the top, as the bottom.
Are you sure? Go to “super outbreak” wiki, and scroll down to Xenia. See the picture of the wedge inside Xenia.
Sorry to hear about your brother. He will always be known for this famous footage.
I’m sure. I saw it live when I was 12 from five miles outside of town.
Homer Ramby’s still photos show it wasn’t a wedge. Check it out at Xenia Tornado by rambhg.
Then would you please describe it exactly. Because no one seems to know for sure. Are you saying it ws a fat stovepipe? Ramby could of misjudged where the tornado was when he was snapping piccys. The wilberforce pic was stovepipe, but mabey it was really just entering Xenia and misjudged? And what about the second piccy on the “super outbreak” wiki page. I posted that pic, and it was taken from inside Xenia, but the photographer is unknown (mabey didnt survive). Did it ever look like that?
Reason is I was 9 and was probebly 60 miles away in a basement (near the Franklin county Fairfield county line). I didnt see it. I never spoke to anyone who had. So it is very interesting that you saw it.
Yes, I really saw it. As I’ve written here before, I was 12 and out delivering newspapers in eastern Beavercreek at the time. (Of all my sixth grade classmates at the time, the only ones who saw it were those out on their paper routes like me. Even Homer Ramby was driving his son around on his route when they saw it.)
BTW, if you were nine, you’d now be 44 years old, but your channel says you’re 28. Are you really 28 or using some else’s channel to post?
I will comment on Homer Ramby’s pix, based on what I saw. I agree w/u that the one he estimates is striking Arrowhead was shot maybe a minute before. The stovepipe he estimates as being over Wilberforce is what I saw right over downtown Xenia. However, I do not know how accurately he time-indexed his shots, if at all. Tornados are extremely dynamic and change appearance rapidly.
I should add two things. First, the tornado is moving directly away from Homer as he photographed it, so it appears straight up and down. I saw it from the W side and it leaned NE as the wall cloud dragged it along, tho sometimes it was straight up. Second, I was closer to it, 5 miles away instead of Homer’s 8, so it appeared larger and thicker to me. But from my perspective, it looked much more like Homer’s pix than those taken close-up in Xenia.
LOL I am not 28, I have to change that. Long story.
Anyway. that is interesting. So Homers final shot of the stovepipe, was mabey downtown Xenia? If that was say 9 or 10 miles away, I guess that could be a half mile wide…they say some parts of the path was a half mile wide.
So the piccy on “super outbreak” (that came from Homers page) of the tornado that was shot by the “unknown photograper” might not be authentic Xenia? And the one at Memorial hospital was just the base then?
The widest damage path is said to be 1/2 mile right downtown as it passed the courthouse. Air Force recon photos taken next day seem to confirm that.
I don’t know who wrote the wikipedia article, but I think they’re referring to Homer as the “passing motorist” who filmed it. Homer’s pix are authentic as they match very closely what I saw.
Fred Stewart’s pix from the hosp are the bottom of a mile high tornado.
Don’t know which pic ur referring to as shot by unknown.
Checkout Xenia Tornado page at Facebook for many rare photos of the tornado.
Best collection of stills I’ve ever seen is at the Greene County Historical Society in Xenia. I understand the GClibrary has an extensive collection as well.
That is a fantastic facebook page! OMG I had no idea so many pics were taken of the tornado! Not only that, but each pic describes where the pic is taken from, and where the tornado is…Its almost like watching an actual film!
The phots show that the tornado was indeed…kind of a fat stovepipe ( a little bit of a wedge kind of)…espicially the whole sot of it hitting downtown on the facebook page…you can see the whole thing. Reminds me of Andover ‘91 when it was going thru hte backyards
Anyway I was what, 60 miles away in a basement. I remember we went upstaris, and a newsman came on and said ‘Xenia was just wiped out!” (he actually said it like that!) My Mom was shaking her head in disbelief. Although I wasnt in Xenia, I have a huge interest in it and I am writing and posting a lot on that super outbreak page (I put a lot of the article on there that appears now). I wonder if I could post some of those facebook piccys on the super outbreak wiki page?
BTW I sometimes “storm chase”. I was facsinated by tornados before Xenia, but Xenia sealed it for me. I wrote a huge thing about it for my school the following Monday.
The tornado (from the wealth of photos) seems to have been regular sized entering Arrowhead, but then appeared to turn into a tall stovepipe when it hadnt yet, because the debris cloud was so big! Looks like it’s wall clould lowered in Xenia and it turned into a fat stovepipe, half mile wide.
Thank You for your help
Would you like to help with the super outbreak page? I will use your guidence and advice at the very least. To me the most important thing about that page, is that the facts are correct.
It’s interesting you mention it, because the Andover vid (where it’s passing behind those homes) reminds me more of Xenia74 than any other vid. Andover was 1/2 mile wide on the ground at that point, tho the videographer is much closer to the tornado (or zoomed) than I was to Xenia.
I don’t know wiki’s policies, but if you can download them, you can probably post them. For the sake of historical accuracy, just be sure to credit the photographer and post the comments s/he posted w/each pic.
Whoever posted Homer’s pix should change the captions to his comments on each pic. He was there and his estimates are probably really good.
You’re welcome.
I wouldn’t worry too much about whether or not it was a wedge. Everyone up close said it was a wedge, everyone far away said no. Homer’s pix clearly show a tornado much taller than wide, which is what I saw. Even the historical marker they put up in Xenia calls it a mile wide F5 wedge! It was never close to a mile wide on the ground. Inaccuracies abound.
I think weather or not it is a “wedge” is about interpitation, I agree. At one point before it got to downtown, it probebly was wedge for a few seconds, like you say it changed so often and quickly. Lighting and angle of it could distort the view too. A wedge (to me) is a wide tornado, where the bottom is slightly smaller than the top. But in downtown where it was over a half mile wide, it is more like a short fat stovepipe from the pics that you directed me too.
Andover looked the same before it got to Andover, as the Xenia tornado before it got to Xenia. The two tornados are similar, I was wondering if I was the only one to notice!
You said “I don’t know wiki’s policies, but if you can download them, you can probably post them. For the sake of historical accuracy, just be sure to credit the photographer and post the comments s/he posted w/each pic.”
Fair enough, will do. Will work on the artical all week, and inform you too about its progress.
Wedge is about definition, not interpretation. A wedge tornado is as wide on the ground as it is high. This one wasn’t and you shouldn’t try to rewrite the wiki article to say it was a wedge when Homer’s photos there show clearly that it wasn’t.
Just write the facts: photos/witnesses up close say it looked like a wedge, while photos/witnesses from a distance show it wasn’t a wedge.
Report facts. Let your readers interpret them on their own.
This one WAS a wedge when it hit downtown, have you see nthe pic? I’ll post it and let you know when it is up. The tornado (just like Andover) constantly grew stronger and changed its shape. Homers pics were early stages.
It was NOT a wedge when it hit downtown. Homer’s last two pics show it just before striking Arrrowhead and then over Wilberforce. I SAW IT, it was always much taller than wide. Unless you report facts and footnote your text, I’m going to recommend to wiki that they drop your edits.
Im a paying member, you cant recommend shit. I’ll do some recommending on my own while Im at it.