COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) —For more than a decade, the U.S. had gone with out an EF-5 tornado, a drought in a category that sees the most intense wind speeds and damage. That streak has come to an end when a tornado near Enderlin, North Dakota was officially upgraded, ending the "EF‑5 drought".
On June 20th, 2025, a supercell spawned a tornado near Enderlin, ND, traveling about 12 miles before dissipating near Alice, ND. Initial Assessment by the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota, rated the tornado as an EF-3 with estimated winds around 160 mph, but after 3 months of post analysis the national weather service upgraded the tornado to an EF-5 with winds above 210 mph. The NWS citied extensive damage to trees, foundations and rain cars that were thrown up to 500 ft, the maximum winds also correlated to the maximum strength on the radar.
Previous EF-5 Tornadoes:
Before the Enderlin upgrade, the last EF-5 tornado occurred on May 20th, 2013, in Moore Oklahoma. The tornado had wind speeds over 210 mph with a path length of 17 miles, killing 24, injuring 200 and causing over 2 billion dollars in damage.
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