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Six Science Posts - Enderlin EF5 tornado special issue
The EF5 drought is over
Harshal Chhaya
October 07, 2025
Hi,
Tornadoes are rated on the “enhanced Fujita” (EF) scale - from EF0 to EF5 based on the damage they cause.
The EF Scale was revised from the original Fujita Scale to include the actual damage caused by the tornado. (source: https://www.weather.gov/oun/efscale)
So what? Why have a special issue about this?
For the first time in US weather tracking history, a tornado has been classified as EF5 based on mathematical analysis of the damage it caused - not just the wind speed.
The June 20th tornado in Enderlin, North Dakota is now officially an EF5 tornado.
This breaks a 12 year “drought” in EF5 tornadoes in the US
This is HUGE! (at least in the weather-watcher world)
This is a new approach to classifying tornadoes.
The official NWS report is at https://www.weather.gov/media/fgf/Enderlin.pdf
It has lots of really interesting analysis and pictures.
Below are 6 posts about this and what it means. There’s also some cool math and physics first proposed by a weather-watcher and officially used by the National Weather Service to classify the tornado.
Stay curious, friends!
Harshal
#1 🤯
To suspend the photographed tanker car, a uniform wind load of an estimated 264 mph would be required.
Please note that this assumes an empty tanker with no lift component (likely was one, but rather smaller compared to drag), and evenly distributed flow acting perpendicular.
— Ethan Moriarty (@EMoriartyWX)
3:00 PM • Jun 23, 2025
This is the original post - 2 days after the event that used physics and math to estimate the wind speed of the tornado. Ethan’s analysis estimated a speed of 264 mph.
More detailed math is at the end of the newsletter
#2 🤯
The record for the longest stretch without an EF-5 tornado has been broken. 108 days after the storm, the NWS has upgraded the Enderlin, ND tornado to EF-5, citing the lofting of train cars as a key factor. A historic rating confirmed by a historic damage survey. #EF5
1/3
— Avery Krick (@avery_krick)
4:21 PM • Oct 6, 2025
#3 🤯
Since it's Enderlin EF-5 day..
How about some satellite?
Here is damage scarring from both the Enderlin, ND, EF-5 (westerly scar) and the subsequent Enderlin, ND, EF-3 (easterly scar)
BOTH equally impressive damage scarring - the former obviously wider and lengthier. #NDwx 1/
— Carl Jones (@Wx_Jones)
6:43 PM • Oct 6, 2025
#4 🤯
Enderlin was…
The furthest North EF-5 ever
The latest season EF-5 ever
The highest rated EF-5 ever
The shortest tracking EF-5 ever
The lowest TOR risk EF-5 ever— DavisDoesWeather (@DavisDoesWX)
4:37 PM • Oct 6, 2025
#5 🤯
The United States now officially has 60 EF-5 tornadoes (since 1950), with the Enderlin, ND tornado from June 20, 2025, being the 60th EF-5 tornado.
The last EF-5 tornado before Enderlin was May 20, 2013 in Moore, OK, 12 years ago.
— Weather Track US (@weathertrackus)
5:08 PM • Oct 6, 2025
#6 🤯
More details on the June 20, 2025, EF5 tornado near Enderlin, ND. A beast of a tornado, surveyed by one of the best, most knowledgeable damage assessment teams the NWS has. #tornado#ef5
— 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘺𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘵 📡🌪️🤓🍷🏴☠️ (@jamesaydelott)
5:43 PM • Oct 6, 2025
Here’s the math showing how they estimated the speed of the tornado:
About
This newsletter is my way of sharing interesting science-related news with my curious friends. I enjoy finding science and math connections in our world.
Please share this newsletter with others. Let’s encourage curiosity.
That’s it for this issue.
Hit ‘reply’ to tell me what you think.
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Let’s all celebrate science and engineering and curiosity.
Best wishes,
Harshal