A tornado that killed three people in North Dakota this summer was upgraded Monday to an EF5, the first such tornado in the U.S. in 12 years.
Level 5 is the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which the National Weather Service has used to measure tornadoes since 2007. The tornado that wrecked the outskirts of Enderlin, N.D., on June 20 reached maximum wind speeds of 210 mph, the weather service announced Monday.
Meteorologists initially estimated the tornado’s strength at EF3, but the massive damage in its mile-wide path forced them to reconsider.
The twister ripped at least one home from its foundation, uprooted entire trees and toppled a freight train, NWS investigators said.
When it struck the train, the tornado knocked over fully loaded grain hoppers weighing 286,000 pounds. An empty tanker car was found nearly 500 feet from its initial location.
The lack of recorded EF5 tornadoes in the past 12 years does not necessarily mean none have occurred, only that meteorologists were unable to find evidence of wind speeds topping 200 mph.
“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 at the NWS office in Grand Forks, N.D. “It’s hard sometimes to get tornadoes to hit something.”
The previous recorded EF5 tornado struck Moore, Okla, on May 20, 2013, killing 24 people and tearing up the town.
With News Wire Services
