The local National Weather Service (NWS) office in Norman, Okla., dispatched storm surveyors today (May 21) to evaluate the areas heaviest hit by the tornado. The meteorologists will analyze the debris, looking for clues that will help them reconstruct the tornado’s life cycle, including where it touched down, its top wind speeds and its magnitude, said Todd Shea, an NWS meteorologist based in La Crosse, Wis.

"In a way, it's a bit like being a detective," Shea told LiveScience. "You try to look at all the evidence and put together a puzzle of what you think happened as the tornado moved through."