The January 2000 meeting of the Memphis chapter of the American Meteorological Society took place on 11 January 2000 at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in East Memphis. Chairperson Mark Isaminger opened the meeting by discussing topics for future meetings. Secretary Erik Proseus announced that the Mid-South Science Fair was coming up in March and solicited the membership's help in judging the meteorological exhibits at this year's fair. The officers also stressed the importance of this event as one of our primary means of community involvement.

The featured speaker for the evening was Mr. John Gordon, a lead forecaster for the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Nashville, TN. The first part of Mr. Gordon's two-fold presentation focused on the Nashville Tornadoes of April 16, 1998. A combination of Doppler radar data and home video and media footage during the events was presented. A total of three tornadoes touched down in the metro Nashville area that afternoon, with most of the damage occurring in east Nashville where two of the tornado paths merged. The responsible storms were of the classic high-precipitation supercell variety and existed in a highly suitable, and unstable, environment. The Nashville NWS office issued more than 200 weather warnings during an eighteen-hour period on the 16th (over one-half of which were tornado warnings) with an average lead time of 22 minutes.

The second half of Mr. Gordon's talk focused on a particular tornadic supercell in southern middle TN. The Lawrence County Tornado produced F5 damage for over 50 minutes, but was largely overshadowed by the storms occurring in the Nashville area at the same time (thus, it's been dubbed "The Forgotten F5"). Thus, a team of NWS-Nashville personnel are attempting to have the Fujita ratings given to three previous Tennessee F5's downgraded to F4, making the Lawrence Co. storm the only F5 in state history. Their basis for the reversal is the manner in which the previous storms were classified and discrepancies in the reports issued by various agencies. Their appeals are currently being reviewed by the Storm Prediction Center.

Respectfully submitted,
Erik A. Proseus
Secretary / Treasurer

Minutes Approved,
Mark Isaminger
Chairperson