The June 20, 2025, North Dakota Tornado Outbreak: Breaking Down the First EF5 in 12 Years @ConvectiveChronicles
The June 20, 2025, North Dakota Tornado Outbreak: Breaking Down the First EF5 in 12 Years  @ConvectiveChronicles
Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In-depth meteorological breakdown of the June 20, 2025, severe weather outbreak centered on North Dakota, which spawned an EF5 tornado near the town of Enderlin, the first official EF5 in the US in twelve years. We'll take an incredibly detailed dive into the meteorology behind the entire setup, including an analysis of the background pattern, how forecasts differed from what actually happened, storm behavior, and much more. We'll also talk about the damaging derecho that followed the tornadic supercells.

Thumbnail image via Aaron Rigsby.

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Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
3:25 Storm Chaser Coaching ad
4:27 Meteorological breakdown begins
6:48 Discussion of the warm 700 mb temperatures
14:32 Surface analysis
20:06 Observed sounding analysis
36:38 Analysis of tornadic supercell evolution
48:52 Confirming the Enderlin tornado's intensity via radar
52:26 RAP proximity sounding analysis
57:36 Discussion of extreme tornado deviance
01:03:28 Discussion of EF5 upgrade
01:06:02 Derecho breakdown
01:14:04 Summary and wrap-up

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Resources:

NWS Bismarck event page: weather.gov/bis/SevereWx06202025

NWS Grand Forks event page:
weather.gov/fgf/2025_06_20_Summary

NWS Grand Forks Public Information Statement on the EF5 upgrade: forecast.weather.gov/product.php?issuedby=FGF&product=PNS&site=fgf&fbclid=IwY2xjawNQt0FleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExazFKQzloWURvWEsyc1lTAR5d6xmhb5i484NM-xeESXT8p1TdPv0EzHMFATmaM5c69l7mmpiHauc7_D7UcQ_aem_8Sfj66jB4pcDgSjPqfatow

Jon Davies blog post on 700 mb temperatures: davieswx.blogspot.com/2011/03/3-21-11-and-3-22-11-storm-forecasts-cap.html

Smith et al. (2020): "WSR-88D Tornado Intensity Estimates. Part II: Real-Time Applications to Tornado Warning Time Scales" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/35/6/waf-d-20-0011.1.xml?tab_body=pdf

Nixon and Allen (2021): "Anticipating Deviant Tornado Motion Using a Simple Hodograph Technique" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/36/1/WAF-D-20-0056.1.xml?tab_body=pdf

Miller et al. (2024): "Estimating Wind Speeds in Tornadoes Using Debris Trajectories of Large Compact Objects" - journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/152/8/MWR-D-23-0251.1.xml?tab_body=pdf

Houze, Jr. (2004): "Mesoscale Convective Systems" - agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2004rg000150

Cameron Nixon article on deviant tornadoes: cameronjnixon.wordpress.com/research/deviant-tornadoes

My 2020 Iowa derecho breakdown (with derecho crash course): youtube.com/watch?v=k-lK5yT-G2U

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Huge thank you to those who submitted media for use in this video; I tried to use a bit of everybody's media when possible:

Aaron Rigsby

Celton Henderson
youtu.be/2vX1qv6KI_0?si=kzcR7g3oLhAoIL7z
youtu.be/kuX58kusYts

Alex Resel

Ben Williams/Connor Croff

Joey Prom/Eyes to the Sky
YouTube: youtube.com/@eyestothesky1995

Chris Gullikson/Tempest Tours
youtube.com/watch?v=NvgndGDkYLw

Storm Quest Tours

Joshua Quaas

Nelson Tucker

Shelly and Dan Heinrichs

Amelia Urquhart

Jonathan Sladko

Clarence Smith
youtube.com/watch?v=rN5w4cA5UK0

Will
X: @Willzuh

Dustin Freeman

Jackson Farley

Mighty Muffins
YouTube: youtube.com/@MightyMuffins

Chris Howell

Thomas Hinterdorfer/Katey Houston
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The June 20, 2025, North Dakota Tornado Outbreak: Breaking Down the First EF5 in 12 Years

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