After more than 12 years, the EF5 tornado drought in the United States has officially ended. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Grand Forks has upgraded the June 20, 2025 Enderlin, North Dakota tornado to EF5 status, marking the first such event in over a decade.
The tornado produced peak winds exceeding 210 mph, carving a 12-mile path through Rass and Cass counties and tragically claiming three lives. Its exceptional strength was confirmed after months of detailed analysis by meteorologists, engineers, and scientists.
According to the NWS, the storm’s ability to lift a train car nearly 500 feet and overturn fully loaded grain cars provided the necessary evidence to classify it as an EF5. Without such indicators, determining its power would have been nearly impossible, since the Enhanced Fujita Scale is based entirely on observed damage.
Although the tornado struck in June, the EF5 classification wasn’t finalized until October. The weather service’s investigation process can take weeks or even months, as teams must carefully examine structural damage, debris patterns, and other indicators to accurately assign a rating.
The U.S. had not recorded an EF5 tornado since 2013, when a devastating storm struck Moore, Oklahoma. The change from the original Fujita Scale (1971) to the Enhanced Fujita Scale (2006) is partly responsible for the apparent drought.
The newer scale reduced the EF5 threshold to winds over 200 mph, but also factored in structural integrity—meaning buildings constructed to withstand stronger winds are less likely to show EF5-level damage. This has led many storms that would have been rated F5 under the old scale to be classified as EF4 today.
The Enderlin EF5 tornado serves as a powerful reminder of nature’s unpredictability and destructive potential. While improved construction standards and forecasting technology save lives, the return of an EF5 underscores that extreme weather remains a serious threat across the Great Plains.
