The only tornado I have personally viewed was tornado 43 in the 1974 Super Outbreak, the Sayler Park, OH (Cincinnati) F5. I was in 3rd grade at the time and while I was not actually in the tornado the sounding of the air raid sirens (we did not have tornado sirens at the time), the ominous thunder in the approaching supercell, finding small debris mixed with golf ball size hail which fell 10 minutes before the tornado came into view from our house, and simply not knowing the bigger picture since our power went out and this was decades before cell phones, all added a level of mystery and terror to the whole event. We had no idea of the scope of the outbreak until hours later. Our community was shaken terribly and it left scars which took many years to heal. Because the air raid sirens were sounded, the Sayler Park F5, which traveled through populated areas, took only 5 lives.
Choosing to Overcome: The Joplin Effect | Remembering the Joplin, Missouri EF-5 Tornado