A deadly tornado that tore across North Dakota this summer has been upgraded to an EF-5, the strongest kind of tornado and the first one to attain that classification on US soil in 12 years.
The tornado on 20 June in Enderlin caused significant damage across the region and killed three people. The tornado touched down on the ground for just over 12 miles (19km), and at its largest, was 1.05 miles wide (1.69km).
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service (NWS) in Grand Forks estimated that the tornado had winds in excess of 210 miles per hour (338 kilometers per hour), according to an agency 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 EF-5 rating,” said Melinda Beerends, meteorologist in charge at the NWS office in Grand Forks. “It’s hard sometimes to get tornadoes to hit something.”