The May 2001 meeting of the Memphis, TN Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) was held on May 8th with about fifteen people in attendance. The meeting was held at the National Weather Service Forecast Office. Chairperson Mike Wroten opened the evening by reviewing the recent West Tennessee Regional Science Fair, which was held in March at Union University in Jackson, TN, to which the local chapter sent 2 judges. Two winners were chosen from among the students that completed projects in Meteorology or Atmospheric Science. These students will receive Certificates of Acheivements from the AMS. In addition, the election of officers resulted in one new officer and a change in position for two others. The new President- Elect is Erik Proseus, the Vice President-Elect is Jonathon Howell, and the new Secretary/Treasurer will be Mike Wroten.

The speaker for the evening was Dr. Michael Brown, Director of the North Mississippi Severe Storm Intercept Team (NOMISSIT) at Missisippi State University (MSU). Dr. Brown spoke on the background of NOMISSIT and some of their recent chases. NOMISSIT currently has about 50 members, most of which are students at MSU. They have completed over 40 local chases and each spring take a trip to the Great Plains for two weeks. When NOMISSIT has chase teams deployed, they also have a team in the Climate Lab at MSU assisting those in the field. This team includes radar, ham radio, and phone operators, a meso-analyst, and a chase team coordinator. In each team that is deployed to the field, there is a driver, ham radio operator, videographer/photographer, and usually an "observer." Equipment that is used in the Climate Lab include a NIDS-supplied NEXRAD, Digital Atmosphere, and 2 ham radios (2m and 10m), among other apparatus. In their 1999 Great Plains chase, NOMISSIT spotted 1 tornado, 6 hail storms, and many spectacular-looking storms. In 2000, they only encountered 3 storms, though 1 contained a tornado. Dr. Brown showed some video footage from each of these chases. Their greatest "local chase" occurred on January 21-22, 1999. Dr. Brown discussed the synoptic situation that was in place, which resulted in tornado records being set across the SE U.S. In all, 15 teams of chasers were deployed across MS during this event. Three teams confirmed 1 tornado that night, while 1 team was lucky enough to confirm 2 tornadoes. Dr. Brown also showed video from this overnight event. The closest video was taken about 200 yds from a tornado. Flashes of lightning illuminated the funnel as it rolled across the MS Delta. We then viewed video footage of the Nashville tornado from April 1998 and discussed the fact that an F5 tornado in Lawrence County, TN on that same day is now regarded as the only F5 in TN state history. Three tornadoes previously classified as F5 have been downgraded in the last month to F4. This downgrading came about from work done by the Nashville Weather Service Office in conjunction with the Storm Prediction Center.

Respectfully submitted,
Erik Proseus
Vice-President, Memphis Chapter
American Meterological Society

Approved,
Mike Wroten
President, Memphis Chapter
American Meterological Society