The Tornado Chronicles: Norman, OK Tornado of April 13, 2012...

The above radar image was taken about 4pm CDT on Friday, April 13th, 2012, and shows dramatic rotation associated with a severe storm that was moving into the Norman, OK area. 

Police officers initially reported a tornado on the ground near Lindsey and I-35.  Reports of "heavy damage" were received from the Wylie and Boyd Rd. areas, as well as near Highway 9 and Lindsey - all in Norman.  Additional reports of damage came in from the area of Gray and Webster.  This is just East of the high school, where damage was also reported.  The roof of an apartment complex was also damaged at 24th and Brooks in Norman.

The National Weather Service (NWS) survey was just completed, and has rated the damage at EF-1 intensity, with maximum winds estimated at 90-107 mph.  

According to the survey, the tornado touched down about 3.7 miles Southwest of Norman, just to the West of the South Canadian River and lifted about 1.8 miles Northeast of Norman, near NE 12th Street and Robinson:  

The following photo of the tornado was taken by Arkansas State Rugby Team member Jeanclaude LeFlore:

Below is a screenshot from the News9 helicopter which captured the tornado as it was moving into Norman:

Below is the full video from which the above screenshot was taken:

The following video was posted on YouTube and further illustrates the point that I tried to make on facebook earlier, in that the tornado was obscured by rain and/or hail, and difficult if not impossible to see.  The videographer describes his location as Highway 9 and Cedar Rd., looking North:

This photo was taken on the observation deck at the National Weather Center on the OU campus in Norman.  If you look closely you can see what appears to be a rain and/or hail wrapped tornado just to the left of the center of the image:

...another video has just surface from Memorial Stadium, looking West.  You can see the tornado embedded within rain and/or hail:

I have spent quite a bit of time attempting to confirm the authenticity of the following video.  Based on research of the original poster's facebook page, among other things, I am treating the video as authentic at this time.  These folks were way too close to the tornado, and note the rain curtains frequently wrapping around the cyclone, which makes it difficult to impossible to see from certain angles and distances.  Warning:  bad language throughout the video:

Another video of the actual tornado has come forward from an unidentified location in Norman.  Caution, I did not preview all of the audio for bad language:

The following photo shows damage at an unknown location in Norman, via the KFOR chopper:

...and damage videos are beginning to surface on YouTube as well (warning, possible foul language in the background at times):

Additional information, photos and videos on this event will be posted as they become available...

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