what caused the tornado

On April 1, 1974, a very strong low pressure system developed in the great plains and eventually moved into the Ohio Valley. At the same time a large mass of cold, dry air was dropping down from Canada along with a huge surge of unusually warm moist air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. All of these features converged under an intense jet stream with 140 mph winds at an altitude of around 40,000 feet in the atmosphere.

The collision of all of these weather features on April 3 caused warm air to rush up very rapidly as strong jet stream winds in the atmosphere were blowing counterclockwise creating the perfect recipe for tornado formation.

the storm's track

The tornado formed southwest of Xenia in Bellbrook Ohio at about 4:30 pm EDT. It began as a moderate sized tornado and then intensified as it moved northeast at about 50 mph. The tornado had a multiple vortex structure, which is described as multiple funnels coming together and formed one large funnel as it approached Xenia. The huge tornado then slammed into the western part of Xenia and completely flattened the Windsor Park and Arrowhead subdivisions at f5 intensity, completely wiping out brick homes and other structures in its path.

Once the tornado reached central Xenia at 4:40 pm, it was videotaped and observed to have as many as 5 sub vorticies again merging into one twister. It destroyed commercial buildings, apartment buildings, churches, and schools including Xenia High School. Students who were in the school at the time had taken cover in the main hallway just seconds before the twister tossed a school bus on top of the stage they were practicing for a play on.

As the tornado moved along, it lifted up and blew over railroad cars from a moving Penn Central freight train in the center of town. The storm toppled headstones in Cherry Grove Cemetary before moving through the downtown business district and passing just west of the courthouse, which sustained some exterior damage. Many of the businesses in the downtown area were extensively damaged or destroyed, along with the local A&W Root Beer stand that was flattened and where 5 people were killed. The tornado then moved on into the Pinecrest Garden District, which was majorly impacted.

After exiting Xenia, the tornado passed through Wilberforce, severely damaging several campus buildigs of Wilberforce University. It also ripped through Central State University damaging nearly 80 percent of the campus and killing two people and injuring twelve according to the April 9, 1974 edition of the Daily Kent Stater. Afterwards, the tornado weakens and then finally dissipates in Clark County near Vienna. The tornado would later be classified as an F5, the strongest on the Fujita scale with top wind speeds estmated at 250 to 305mph. A document from NOAA's Storm Data Publication indicates that approximately 300 homes were destroyed and around 2100 others were damaged along with much of the downtown business district. Many sources also claim that Ted Fujita, the creator of the Fujita scale assigned an F6 preliminary rating to the tornado making it one of only two tornados to ever receive the rating and later downgraded the rating to an F5, because he later regarded F6 ratings as inconceivable.