Hannah Diegel caught the destructive storm that spawned the first EF-5 tornado since 2013 on her doorbell as it swirled by her home in Enderlin, North Dakota on June 20th, 2025.
ENDERLIN, N.D. — A decade-long drought is over – but it’s not one we wanted to see come to an end.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, has confirmed an EF-5 tornado with winds well over 200 mph touched down near Enderlin earlier this summer. It’s the first twister to receive the dreaded EF-5 designation since 2013, when a tornado injured over 200 and killed 26 in Moore, Oklahoma.
The deadly North Dakota tornado killed three on June 20th as it carved a 12-mile path of destruction through the southeastern reaches of the state. No other injuries were reported, but the tornado is the state’s deadliest since 1978.
The path of the tornado was relatively short compared to other EF-5s, but the damage speaks for itself. Winds of at least 210 mph were strong enough to lift and throw several fully loaded train cars nearly 500 feet. Multiple houses and farmsteads were ripped cleanly off their foundations; this is where the three deaths occurred. Several trees were also completely uprooted, debarked, and tossed hundreds of feet from their original location near the Maple River.
Well it looks like the EF-5 drought is officially over.
After months of analysis with meteorologists and engineers, Enderlin, North Dakota gets added to the list.
This tornado occurred on June 20th of this year.
The last EF-5 in the U.S was May 20th 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma! pic.twitter.com/p070TwCLVU
— Gerald Mengel (@GMengel) October 6, 2025
The tornado was part of an expansive system that spawned 100-mph derechos and at least 40 other tornadoes between June 19-22 as it swept from Montana into New York. Portions of Canada were also affected by severe storms.
The twister was originally given a rating of EF-3 but was upgraded to EF-5 after extensive analysis over the past three months.
