North Dakota EF5 Tornado – Enderlin, June 20, 2025

Updated 2:57 PM CDT, October 6, 2025

On June 20, 2025, a deadly tornado tore across southeastern North Dakota, striking near Enderlin. The National Weather Service has confirmed the tornado was an EF5, with winds exceeding 210 mph (338 kph)—the strongest classification and the first EF5 on American soil in 12 years.

Tornado Details

• Location: Enderlin, North Dakota (about 55 miles southwest of Fargo)
• Date: June 20, 2025
• Width: Up to 1.05 miles (1.7 km)
• Path Length: Over 12 miles (19 km)
• Winds: Estimated at 210 mph (338 kph)
• Fatalities: 3 (Michael and Katherine Dehn, both 73; Marcario Lucio, 89)
• Damage: Destroyed farmsteads, homes, transmission towers, uprooted trees, derailed train, tipped over fully loaded rail cars
• Power Outages: Thousands of homes lost power

Ring doorbell video of the tornado in Enderlin on Friday night, June 20. Contributed / Beau & Hannah Diegel

Meteorological Analysis

Initially classified as EF-3, the tornado was upgraded to EF5 after extensive survey work and forensic analysis, including damage to rail cars and buildings. Meteorologists from the Grand Forks office worked with engineers and wind damage experts to confirm the rating.

The tornado was caused by warm, moist air and high wind shear, creating ideal conditions for severe thunderstorms and tornado formation.

Historical Context

• The last EF5 tornado in the U.S. was in Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013.
• North Dakota has seen two other F5 tornadoes: Fort Rice (1953) and Fargo (1957). The 1957 Fargo tornado killed 12 people and inspired the creation of the Fujita Scale.
• The Fujita Scale, developed in 1971, was replaced by the Enhanced Fujita Scale in 2007.
• Since 2007, only 10 tornadoes have been rated EF5. The 12-year gap is the longest since records began in 1950.

Aftermath

The Enderlin tornado killed three people at two locations near Enderlin, destroyed homes, and left one farmstead with only the basement remaining. Thousands lost power, and debris was scattered downwind. The tornado’s strength took time to confirm due to the unusual damage indicators.

Fox Weather Report & Forensic Analysis

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul Coverage

On October 6, 2025, FOX 9 reported that the deadly tornado in Enderlin, North Dakota, on June 20 was upgraded to EF5, the first EF5 tornado in the United States in 12 years.

• The tornado killed three people and caused significant damage across the region.
• It flipped rail cars, uprooted trees, and swept a farmstead off its foundation.
• The tornado was part of a powerful derecho that brought tornadoes and 100-plus mph wind gusts across North Dakota and western Minnesota.
• Initial damage surveys gave the tornado a preliminary rating of EF3, but after further investigation and wind damage analysis, the rating was upgraded to EF5 with winds estimated over 210 mph.
• The National Weather Service conducted additional surveys and worked with wind damage experts to confirm the rating.

“In the last kind of 12 years, there’s been several strong tornadoes that have come close, but there haven’t been known damage indicators at that time to support the EF5 rating. It’s hard sometimes to get tornadoes to hit something.” — Melinda Beerends, NWS Grand Forks

Tornadoes rip through North Dakota, killing 3 (FOX 9 Video) Tornado swirls in North Dakota (FOX 9 Video)

Initial damage surveys gave the tornado a preliminary rating of EF-3 or stronger on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. After three months of additional forensic investigations, including wind forensics and analysis of train car and tree damage, the rating was upgraded to EF-5, the strongest on the tornado rating scale. Wind speeds were estimated to be greater than 210 mph.

The tornado was so powerful it flipped train cars about 475 feet, derailed several fully-loaded grain hopper cars, and lofted a tanker car. Damage to trees along the Maple River included root balls ripped from the ground, with some trees’ original locations not found.

This marks the first EF-5 tornado in the U.S. since May 20, 2013, in Moore, Oklahoma, and the first in North Dakota since the Fargo Tornado of 1957.

Valley News Live Review & Evidence

The Enderlin tornado #1 from June 20, 2025 was officially upgraded to EF-5 after further extensive review by the National Weather Service of Grand Forks, including forensic damage wind speed estimates. The original preliminary rating was EF-4 with estimated peak winds of 180 mph, but further review raised the estimate to at least 210 mph. Evidence included several fully-loaded grain hopper cars that were toppled, and the lofting of tanker cars, including one empty tanker car tossed about 475.5 feet. Damage to trees near the Maple River east of Enderlin was reanalyzed, with root balls displaced. The new peak wind estimate also closely correlates to storm-relative velocity data from radar. The tornado had a path just over 12 miles long.

This tornado claimed the lives of 3 people.

Previous reporting and resources:

Copyright 2025 KVLY. All rights reserved.

This image shared by FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray shows the damage and destruction left behind after the tornado in Enderlin, North Dakota.

The tornado covered a mile-wide path and destroyed property and landscapes across 12 miles, according to the NWS.

KATC Report & NWS Public Statement

On October 6, 2025, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Grand Forks, ND officially upgraded the June 20, 2025 Enderlin tornado to EF-5, with estimated peak winds exceeding 210 mph. This ends a 12-year “EF-5 Drought” in the U.S. since the Moore, Oklahoma tornado in 2013—the longest such interval on record.

• Path: 12.10 miles long, up to 1.05 miles wide (1850 yards)
• Damage Indicators: Tipped fully loaded grain hopper cars, lofted tanker cars 475 ft (145 m), total destruction of a farmstead with debris swept clean, severe “sandpapering” (debarking) of trees near the Maple River
• Anchoring: Lack of proper anchoring at the farmstead limited the rating severity at that location
• Upgrade Process: Collaboration with wind damage experts and the Northern Tornadoes Project, reanalysis of damage indicators and radar-derived velocity data

Why It Matters: The “EF-5 Drought”

EF-5 tornadoes are extraordinarily rare. The 12-year gap between Moore 2013 and Enderlin 2025 is the longest on record (since ~1950). Before Moore, the previous F5/EF5 event was the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado of May 3, 1999.

How Tornadoes Are Rated (EF Scale)

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, in use since 2007 in the U.S., rates tornadoes by the damage they cause—not direct wind measurements. Damage indicators (building types, trees, structures) and degrees of damage are used to infer wind speeds. Actual winds may vary, especially in sparsely built areas. Some high-wind tornadoes may be underrated if they pass over open fields or weak structures.

For the Enderlin upgrade, investigators matched damage features to known indicators, combined with radar velocity data, and re-evaluated tree and structural damage patterns to justify the EF-5 rating.

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April Baumgarten is the Fargo city government reporter. Readers can reach her at 701-241-5417 or abaumgarten@forumcomm.com.

Determining a tornado’s strength usually takes days or weeks, as meteorologists study the damage to buildings and trees. This case took much longer because of the unusual damage to rail cars, including one that was picked up and hurled far from the rest. The meteorologists worked with engineers and wind damage experts to conduct additional surveys and forensic analysis to determine the EF5 rating, up from the initial estimate of EF3.

The tornado was caused by warm, moist air in a place that’s ripe for a thunderstorm, Beerends said. But there was also a high amount of wind shear, which is a variation of wind speed and direction that created the conditions for the tornado.

Two men and a woman were killed at two locations near Enderlin, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Fargo. Thousands of homes lost power during the storm. One farmstead had its foundation swept clean, with just the basement remaining and debris scattered downwind.

The last recorded EF5 tornado was on May 20, 2013, in a town outside Oklahoma City, killing 24 people and injuring more than 200 others. That tornado tore through hundreds of homes, a school, hospital and bowling alley in Moore, where nearly a decade later, droves of moviegoers lined up to watch the 2024 film “Twisters.”