Unrated tornado, Karlsruhe to Granville, North Dakota, September 14, 2025

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unratedthis tornado

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

Unrated

Date

September 14, 2025

Touchdown

6:58 PM CDT (23:58 UTC)

Lifted

7:04 PM CDT (00:04 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

1.8 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

McHenry County

Touchdown point

48.179, -100.710

Lift-off point

48.189, -100.745

Record number

2509141758-01

7 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BIS, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU.

• Storm chaser reports rain wrapped tornado west of Karlsruhe. No damage reported. Time Adjusted based on radar. Radar also showing CC drop near this point at 23:47z
• CC drop on radar during time of a reported tornado west of Karlsruhe. No damage reported.
• Storm chasers report 1st tornado near Karlsruhe lifted. Location estimated based on radar.
• Storm chasers report a new tornado touchdown north northwest of Karlsruhe. Notes storm appears to be going through multiple cycles. Location estimated based on radar.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A low-pressure center moved north from South Dakota to North Dakota with a warm front lifting to the north. This resulted in strong low-level wind shear over central North Dakota. This shear combined with low cloud bases caused by a high amount of moisture in the lower atmosphere to produce multiple low-topped supercells which produced a low amount of lighting. From these supercells, 20 tornadoes developed over central North Dakota which moved in a generally southerly to northerly direction. Two tornadoes produced EF-2 damage. Near Denhoff in Sheridan County, multiple buildings including mobile homes and farm out-buildings were severely damaged along the tornado path, along with damage to many trees and some vehicles. This multi-vortex tornado had a total path length of approximately 13 miles. The second area of EF-2 tornado damage was about 13 miles west of Linton in Emmons County, where a barn was destroyed near Beaver Bay. Two other tornadoes produced EF-1 damage. Near Menoken in Burleigh County, there was damage to trees and the roof of a farm outbuilding. Near Mercer in McLean County, a pole barn was partially destroyed, and a mobile home on wheels was destroyed. Numerous other tornadoes occurred with no damage to evaluate. By National Weather Service policy, those tornadoes were rated EF-U (Unknown). Otherwise, no damaging straight-line winds were reported, and the only large hail reported was one inch in diameter, which occurred near Balfour in McHenry County. In addition, flash flooding occurred over parts of Burleigh and Morton Counties as a result of the heavy rain from the storms. Many vehicles were stranded in Bismarck as multiple roads were underwater, and in Morton County several rural roads had water flowing over.

The tornado touched down in an open field west of Karlsruhe and impacted no structures. There was no damage to evaluate. By National Weather Service policy the tornado is rated EF-U (Unknown).

The tornado touched down in an open field northwest of Karlsruhe and impacted no structures before it dissipated east of Simcoe. There was no damage to evaluate. By National Weather Service policy the tornado is rated EF-U (Unknown).

The tornado touched down in an open field south of Granville and impacted no structures. There was no damage to evaluate. By National Weather Service policy the tornado is rated EF-U (Unknown).

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

30 minutes of warning. NWS BIS issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:28 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:08 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.