Cincinnati April 3 1974 F5 Tornado

F5 Tornado Cincinnati Ohio April 3, 1974 | Here's the beast. I had never seen anything like this in my life. I was speechless and somewhat frightened. I was 21 years old. Copyright 1974 Tim Carter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - DO NOT REPRODUCE without permission

F5 Cincinnati April 3, 1974 Tornado - Stunning to Behold

On April 3, 1974 I witnessed the F5 tornado start to break up and go back up into the sky. I was standing in the middle of Riddle View Lane in Clifton Heights.

This tornado touched ground at about 5:30 PM just north of Rising Sun, Indiana. It then crossed over the mighty Ohio River into northern Kentucky. It then re-crossed the Ohio River targeting Sayler Park, the far-western Cincinnati suburb along the Ohio River.

The magenta line represents the line of sight I had from the center of Riddle View Lane to the base of the tornado in the photo above as it was departing the suburb of White Oak, Cincinnati. The red arrows indicate the rough path of the tornado after it crossed the Ohio River. (C) 2022 Google Maps

After pulverizing the floating restaurant on a barge my father-in-law built, and countless houses and businesses in Sayler Park, the swirling tornado then clawed its way up out of the river valley ravaging Bridgetown, Mack, Dent, and Delhi, Ohio.

This tornado was just one of many in the historic Super Tornado Outbreak that spanned April 3-4, 1974.

By the time it got to White Oak, it started to dissipate. This is when it came into view on my street, as seen in the above photograph. Here are a few other photos of the beast that moments before killed three people and injured 210 others.

April 3, 1974 F5 Cincinnati Tornado | I captured this photograph standing in front of my childhood home. There was no sound just a surreal spiral dance in the sky. Copyright 1974 Tim Carter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - DO NOT REPRODUCE without permission

The tornado lost its appetite for killing and maiming and is going back up into its lair. Copyright 1974 Tim Carter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - DO NOT REPRODUCE without permission