A deadly tornado that tore across southeastern North Dakota this summer has been upgraded to an EF5 with winds topping 200 mph (322 kph), the strongest classification of tornado and the first on American soil in over a decade, meteorologists reported.
The June 20 twister in Enderlin killed three people and caused considerable damage. At its peak, the tornado spanned 1.05 miles wide (1.7 kilometers) and traveled across the prairie for just over 12 miles (19 kilometers). Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Grand Forks estimated the tornado’s winds reached 210 mph (338 kph), according to newly released analyses.
The last EF5 tornado recorded was the infamous 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado in Oklahoma, which holds the record for the strongest winds ever registered in the U.S. at 321 mph (517 kph).
Since the Enhanced Fujita scale was adopted in 2007, only ten tornadoes have achieved an EF5 rating, with this twelve-year gap being the longest period without an EF5 since the National Weather Service began tracking tornadoes in 1950.
Melinda Beerends, a meteorologist at the Grand Forks office of the National Weather Service, stated, “In the last twelve years, several strong tornadoes have come close, but there haven’t been known damage indicators to support an EF5 rating at that time. It’s often challenging for tornadoes to hit enough structures to provide clear evidence of their strength.”
The tornado inflicted severe destruction, demolishing farmsteads, knocking over fully loaded rail cars, uprooting transmission towers, and damaging numerous trees. Meteorologists assessed the aftermath the following morning.
Classifying the strength of a tornado can take days or even weeks, as meteorologists closely examine the destruction left in its wake. However, this case required a longer investigation because of unusual damage to rail cars, including one that was displaced far from its original location. Meteorologists collaborated with engineers and wind damage experts to carry out additional surveys and forensic analyses to confirm the EF5 classification, a rise from the initial EF3 estimate.
The conditions that led to this tornado included warm, moist air conducive to thunderstorms and considerable wind shear, which is the change in wind speed and direction that fosters tornado formation.
In the storm’s wake, two men and a woman lost their lives across two locations near Enderlin, located approximately 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Fargo. The storm resulted in widespread power outages, affecting thousands of homes, with one farmstead left with only its basement intact, the foundation swept clean and debris scattered.
The last recorded EF5 tornado occurred on May 20, 2013, in a town near Oklahoma City, claiming 24 lives and injuring over 200. That tornado wreaked havoc on numerous homes, schools, and a hospital in Moore, Oklahoma, where nearly a decade later, large crowds lined up to see the 2024 film “Twisters,” based on the town's catastrophic event.
