EF3 Tornado — Barnes, North Dakota

2025-06-20 · near Urbana, Barnes, North Dakota

Event narrative

This tornado initially developed in far eastern Stutsman County about 2 miles east-southeast of Spiritwood, and immediately tracked northeast into Barnes County. As it continued northeast it missed the community of Urbana in Barnes County to the northwest. As it continued this northeast track it caused EF-3 damage

to a metal building structure and homestead. Additional EF-2 damage occurred at that home, including the loss of an upper floor and garage. Several nearby Morton buildings were also destroyed next to the MBS. At least 3 vehicles and a trailer were lofted by the tornado from that home, along with the engine block of a dump truck. The vehicle remnants were thrown or deposited between 0.2 and 0.25 miles along an arc from the south to southeast. One vehicle was a 1980 Chevy pickup truck that had originally been located between a backhoe and dump truck by the house. The vehicles cannot currently be used as DI's under the current EF scale, however they could be reviewed in future expansions of the EF scale. The tornado continued on a north to northeast track and 1 mile from the first home caused EF-3 damage to another home along with EF-3 damage to nearby trees. The tornado then turned northwest causing visible ground scouring as it eventually turned west back into Stutsman county as it weakened and eventually dissipated in eastern Stutsman County. High resolution Worldview 2 satellite imagery reveals trackable ground scouring showing this turning track up to around 1.25 miles west of the Barnes County and Stutsman County border.

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 → (46.9234, -98.4587)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1279518. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.