WATERTOWN, S.D. (KFGO KWAT) – South Dakota’s first-ever documented tornado in February will go down as an “EF-U” on the Fujita scale, which gives twisters a ranking from EF-0 to EF-5, based on their strength and wind speed.

It's one of the weirdest things we've seen in 2025's weather, so far. A winter tornado in one of America's coldest states. Here's what happened and why.

A tornado touched down during the late afternoon of Monday, Feb. 24, in open country southeast of Watertown, S.D. This is the first tornado on record in South Dakota during the three winter months. As dramatic as this sounds,

The forecast on Monday hardly featured a chance of thunderstorms in South Dakota. So when a tornado touched down in Watertown in the eastern part of the state, it surprised even a seasoned storm chaser.

Typically when a person thinks of February in either of the Dakotas, they don’t think of tornadoes. But that happened Monday outside of Watertown, South Dakota