Weather experts in the U.S. reassessed that rare, deadly ‘Tornado’ that killed 3 in North Dakota and struck the United States for months earlier in 2025, was the first of its kind in more than a decade and classified as the "strongest" to appear in 12 years.
Moreover, the weather service in Grand Fork, North Dakota confirmed that the monstrous tornado that roared through June 20, 2025 was upgraded on Monday October 6, 2025 as “EF5” with winds greater than 210 mph.
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Furthermore, the weather service metrologists investigated that scientists have upgraded the latest tornado based on the damage, it caused to a freight train.
The tornado first hit near Enderlin, North Dakota, located about 40 miles southwest of Fargo and tracked north for nearly 20 minutes, covering about 12 miles near Alice.
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According to further details, the violent tornado that hits U.S. tossed one empty train nearly 500 feet off the track and knocked over several fully loaded grain hopper cars as per reports.
Additionally, it has also revealed that ragging winds from the giant tornado also ripped large trees down to stubs and inflicted destruction on one farmstead.
Scientists and Meteorologists determine tornadoes after analyzing structural damage, tree damage and other indicators to estimate wind speeds.
The most notable damages included a train derailment with hopper cars full of grain tipped over and tanker cars lofted into the air and thrown almost at 500 feet.
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Furthermore, the debarked trees and displaced root balls, including one that survey teams couldn’t locate, had completely scraped off the original site of a farmstead from its foundation.
Additionally, after conducting multiple surveys the National Weather Service NWS teams concluded that the North Dakota Tornado met the criteria for ‘EF5’ intensity.
Tornadoes like EF5 are rare and strong. EF5 are packed with winds at a high speed of 200mph and are considered the highest level of the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which is used to determine a tornado’s strength.
Additionally, the last EF5 that knocked over Moore, Oklahoma, took 24 lives by leaving hundreds injured after the tornado turned the city to rubble in minutes.
Moreover, the reason EF5s are rare is that only 60 tornadoes of EF5 strength, including the North Dakota tornado have been recorded since 1950 as reported by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Centre.
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Majorly, Tornadoes are categorized and given Ratings based on the types and level of damage they cause and that level is tied to their wind speed.
In a simple equation, the Enderlin tornado was originally rated an EF3 with winds speeding at 160mph.
While a tornado that rips apart a single-family home down to its foundation at 200mph winds will be was labelled as category "EF4" and that type of damage is considered as the most extreme level.
