ENDERLIN, N.D. — After months of analysis, the deadly June 20 tornado in Enderlin has been officially classified as an EF-5 storm.

It will go down as one of the strongest tornadoes in American history, with top estimated winds of 266 miles per hour.

The nighttime tornado killed three people in two homes miles apart. It is the first EF-5 tornado in the U.S. since the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado in 2013, which killed 24 and injured more than 200. The Enderlin event coincidentally came 68 years to the day after the last F5 tornado in North Dakota: the Fargo tornado of 1957.

Connell Miller, lead researcher with the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory, which was brought in by the National Weather Service, said, "You don't often see numbers like this," referring to the wind speeds.

Blake Rafferty

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