EF5 Tornado — Ransom, North Dakota

2025-06-20 · near Enderlin Arpt, Ransom, North Dakota

Event narrative

This large and violent tornado began with minor damage to a few branches about 3 miles SSW Enderlin but within 2.5 miles of the track, the tornado gained intensity and

significantly widened. While south of Highway 46, between 56th and 57th Street SE, the tornado derailed 33 train cars including 19 fully-loaded grain hopper cars and 14 empty tanker cars, mainly tipped from the track. Included in the derailed cars were one filled grain car (286,000 lbs) and four empty tanker cars (72,000 lbs) that were pulled into a field away from the track. One of the 4 tanker cars was tossed 600-1000 ft (183-305 m) from the track and an estimated 475.7 ft (145 m) from the distance of the previous tanker car it was attached to before being pulled off of the track; wheel sets detached near the point from which the cars were derailed from the track. It was in this train derailment location that EF-5 damage intensity was noted with greater than 210 mph winds listed officially for this tornado.

Extensive collaboration with wind damage experts provided forensic analyses for the train damage that occurred with this tornado. These analyses estimate potential wind speeds of approximately 230 mph are needed to completely overturn a fully loaded grain hopper car. Collaboration with the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University's Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory estimated a potential wind speed of >119 m/s (>266 mph) to loft the empty tanker car 475.7 ft (145 m) using similar calculations performed in Estimating Wind Speeds in Tornadoes Using Debris Trajectories of Large Compact Objects (Miller et al. 2024). The study, published in the Monthly Weather Review, found that large compact objects lofted greater than 50 m indicate EF-5 intensity winds (greater than 200 mph). The Enderlin train cars were nearly 2 farther than the EF-5 threshold distance and 4 heavier than the heaviest object modeled in the study. The maximum wind speed also correlates to the timing of the maximum strength observed via the WSR-88D storm-relative velocity data from KMVX.

The tornado continued to widen as it tracked to the north and east. Just to the south of Highway 46, a free standing cell phone tower (FST DOD 2) collapsed, and it impacted several farmsteads with outbuildings destroyed. Extensive vegetation damage occurred with crops destroyed, bark stripped from trees with a 'sandpapering' effect noted on numerous trees, and many large trees snapped or stubbed. Large tree root balls of 18-24' diameter trunks were displaced, and in some cases, it was unknown where the uprooted trees originated from. EF-4 damage was noted with the trees. The tornado continued to track northward crossing Highway 46 into southwestern Cass County. The tornado statistics for the Ransom County portion include: a length of 5.4 miles, a maximum width of 1850 yards, a maximum wind of greater than 210 mph (EF-5), and 0 fatalities. Total track length between Ransom and Cass counties was 12.1 miles. Monetary damage estimates were not available.

Wider weather episode

During the evening of Friday, June 20th into the early morning hours of June 21st, much of the region was affected by severe weather. Supercell thunderstorms developed across southeast North Dakota ahead of an approaching convective complex, producing multiple strong, destructive, and fatal tornadoes. This was followed by a powerful line of severe thunderstorms categorized as a derecho, which tracked across much of the region resulting in widespread straight line wind damage. After the derecho passed through the region, there was a period of prolonged destructive winds that affected portions of central and east central North Dakota, as well as adjacent portions of Minnesota. This was a unique event due to the combination of the violent tornadoes ahead of the derecho, and the long duration of significant winds that followed the derecho. Based on estimates provided by North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, the state lost anywhere from 50 to 80 million bushels of grain storage capacity from these storms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.5728, -97.6031)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1278899. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.