The U.S. sees its first EF-5 tornado in more than 4,400 days
A violent, EF-5 tornado struck Enderlin, N.D., on June 20, 2025--the first instance of a twister given that designation in the U.S. since the Moore, Okla., event in May 2013.
While EF-5 tornadoes are rare, most wouldn't have expected the United States to go more than a decade without experiencing a twister of that magnitude.
But that's exactly what happened. Originally given an EF-3 rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the damage from a deadly tornado that hit Enderlin, N.D., on June 20, 2025 was reassessed and recently upgraded to EF-5.
SEE ALSO: Storm chasers captured harrowing scenes of the 2013 Oklahoma tornado
With that change, it was the first EF-5 tornado to hit the U.S. since the destructive, deadly twister that hit Moore, Okla., on May 20, 2013--an astonishing 4,414 calendar days, or a little more than 12 years.
The June 20 tornado in Enderlin was part of a derecho event over a two-day period, spanning more than 1,200 kilometres over Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The twister killed three people, but the total casualties from the derecho totalled seven. Overall, 41 tornadoes were recorded during the derecho.
Canadian collaboration assists with tornado's upgrade to EF-5 rating
The re-evaluation of the Enderlin twister had support from Canada's Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) and the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory (CSSL), both based at Western University.
Working with the National Weather Service (NWS), NTP and CSSL were able to confirm the damage was of the EF-5 magnitude, an uptick from the original EF-3 designation, with wind speeds that exceeded 338 km/h.
“This case exemplifies the importance of integrating engineering analysis and scientific research into operational meteorology,” said Connell Miller, director of the Northern Mesonet Project and former NTP wind impacts researcher, in a news release. “Our work demonstrates that extreme wind events can be reliably assessed using forensic evidence to improve wind speed estimates in tornadoes.”
The twister left a 19.5-kilometre path of devastation, stretching up to 1.7 kilometres wide, according to NTP. The initial analysis by NWS indicated high-end, EF-3 damage but there wasn't enough scale damage indicators to justify a higher rating.
The Enderlin tornado ended up derailing 33 train cars, including multiple grain hoppers that weighed about 286,000 pounds (129,700 kilograms) each, NTP said. A tanker car that was empty, weighing roughly 72,000 pounds (32,600 kilograms), was tossed more than 145 metres from the tracks.
The twister was spawned from a supercell, which formed ahead of the derecho, and was influenced and captured by the 100 km/h progression of the line, according to Kevin MacKay, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.
"[A] highly unusual track for any tornado, let alone an EF-5," said MacKay, noting it initially tracked northeast, then gradually shifted north and northwest before briefly turning south as it dissipated.
Rarity for tornadoes to be given EF-5 rating
Moore, Okla., tornado on May 20, 2013. (National Weather Service/Gabe Garfield)
Plenty of tornadoes over the past decade in the U.S. have caused near-total destruction along their paths. In fact, it’s extremely likely that we regularly see tornadoes with winds of 323 km/h or stronger, but none have produced damage worthy of that EF-5 designation.
The U.S. National Weather Service confirmed nearly 68,000 tornadoes across the country between 1950 and 2022. Less than one per cent of them were rated as EF-5.
With files from Kevin MacKay, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, and Dennis Mersereau, a digital journalist and weather specialist at The Weather Network.