SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A deadly tornado that tore across North Dakota this summer has been upgraded to an EF5, the strongest kind of tornado and the first one on American soil in twelve years.

The tornado on June 20 in Enderlin caused significant damage across the region and killed three people. The tornado touched down on the ground for just over 12 miles (19 kilometers), and at its largest, was 1.05 miles wide (1.69 kilometers).

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Grand Forks estimated that the tornado had winds in excess of 210 miles per hour (338 kilometers per hour), according to a Weather Service analysis released on Monday. An EF-5 tornado is one with winds greater than 200 miles per hour.

“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,” said Melinda Beerends, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Grand Forks. “It’s hard sometimes to get tornadoes to hit something.”

The North Dakota tornado destroyed farmsteads, tipped fully-loaded rail cars, toppled transmission towers and uprooted trees. One tanker car had been flung far from the rest.

Meteorologists from the Grand Forks office headed into the field the morning following the tornado to examine the damage it had wreaked. It usually takes from days to weeks to determine the strength of a tornado by its wind speed, which meteorologists do by examining the damage to buildings and trees. This tornado took much longer to analyze because the damage it inflicted on the rail cars was unusual.

Enderlin is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Fargo.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.