Norman is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county chair of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, behind the own up capital, Oklahoma City. It is 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of OKC.

Norman was established during the Land Run of 1889, which opened the former Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory to American explorer settlement. The city was named in rave review of Abner Norman, the area’s initial land surveyor, and was formally incorporated on May 13, 1891. Norman has prominent unconventional education and associated research industries, as it is home to the University of Oklahoma, the largest academe in the state, with nearly 32,000 students. The the academy is well known for its sporting happenings by teams below the banner of the nickname “Sooners,” with higher than 85,000 people routinely attending football games. The academic circles is house to several museums, including the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, which contains the largest buildup of French Impressionist art ever unconditional to an American university, as well as the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

Norman’s National Weather Center (NWC) houses a unique heap of university, state, federal, and private sector organizations that function together to attach the union of deeds related to the Earth’s atmosphere. Norman lies within Tornado Alley, a geographic region where tornadic bustle is particularly frequent and intense. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area, including Norman, is the world’s most tornado-prone area. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC), a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is at the NWC. SPC forecasts sharp storm and tornado outbreaks nationwide. Additionally, research is conducted at the co-located National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), which includes auditorium research and operates various experimental weather radars.

The Oklahoma region became ration of the United States behind the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Before the American Civil War, the U.S. government began relocating the Five Civilized Tribes—the five Native American tribes that the United States officially attributed via treaty—to Oklahoma. Treaties of 1832 and 1833 assigned the area known today as Norman to the Creek Nation.