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EF1 tornado in Grand Forks County, North Dakota

Tornado August 8, 2025 · Grand Forks County, North Dakota

EF1
Rating
4.0 mi
Whole path
400 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Grand Forks County → Polk County, Minnesota; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 tornado produced intermittent EF-0 and EF-1 damage in Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN. It initially touched down near the intersection of 38th St. and 32nd Ave where it bent a light pole from the top of the intersection stop lights. It tracked to the northeast just south of Altru Hospital along 17th Ave S., past Lewis and Clark elementary School, and then crossed the Red River of the North at Lincoln Drive Park into Minnesota. It lifted over the southern part of East Grand Forks, MN around the Red Lake River near Folsom Park. Most of the damage was to trees along the path. Maximum rating is EF-1 in Grand Forks County, with wind speed at 100 mph based on snapped hardwood tree damage in Grand Forks, ND.

The wider storm

A QLCS type mesoscale convective system brought widespread severe thunderstorm winds to eastern ND, along with, multiple brief tornadoes during the early morning hours.

Began near Grand Forks (47.8897, -97.0830).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Grand Forks CountyEF1 Grand Forks CountyEF1 Grand Forks CountyEF1 Grand Forks CountyEF1 Grand Forks CountyEF1 Griggs CountyEF0 Grand Forks CountyEF0 Grand Forks CountyEF0 Grand Forks CountyEF0 Griggs County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1282447. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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