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EF2 tornado in Cass County, North Dakota

Tornado June 20, 2025 · Cass County, North Dakota

EF2
Rating
6.8 mi
Whole path
1,351 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Cass County → Ransom County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,351 yards (0.77 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A second tornado developed, in Cass County, from the same supercell thunderstorm about 4 miles northeast of Enderlin and tracked to the southeast, crossed Highway 46 into Ransom County, then weakened and dissipated. This tornado was on the ground for almost 7 miles, at its widest was about 1351 yards wide in Cass county. Damage indicators along the path of this tornado correlates to EF-2 damage, with peak winds estimated to be around 120 mph. Along the path of this tornado was extensive tree damage, including trees snapped and uprooted. Several roofs were partially blown apart as well as crop damage visible from high resolution satellite data.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Alice (46.6703, -97.5251).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

13 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1278909. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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