The Memphis, TN Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) held its first meeting of the 1998-1999 year on 15 September 1998. The evening commenced with a brief business meeting. Topics discussed included the upcoming national AMS meeting in Dallas, TX on January 10-15 1999. It was agreed that the Memphis chapter will not present a poster at the conference, but that the chapter would be represented at the meeting by three persons, including two of the officers. In addition, the next local chapter meeting, to be held in November, was discussed briefly. Since those members attending the national conference in January are also presenting papers, it was thought these papers could be presented to the local chapter before the conference. This will be the topic, then, for the next local meeting. Dues were also collected for the 1998-1999 academic year.

The speaker for the evening was Mr. Rick Shields, a Meteorologist with Sparks Companies, Inc. Sparks Companies provides support for agricultural interests nationwide and is beginning to turn to global support with the opening of international offices. His talk was centered on weather trends in the United States since April 1998 and how these trends have affected agricultural interests across the nation. Many forecasters thought, at the beginning of the year, that the summer of 1998 would be very similar to the summer of 1983, the last time the U.S. was exiting a major El Nino weather pattern. However, this turned out to not be the case. As opposed to 1983 when high pressure ruled the Central Plains, ridges set up either east in the Ohio Valley or west over the Rocky Mountains. Thus, it was extremely wet during the planting season in the Corn Belt, delaying planting for up to a month in some areas. May and June continued the wet pattern in these areas, as the south-central portion of the U.S., began to dry out. By July, a drying pattern also began in the Upper Plains and continued in Texas, as a record heat wave broke out across much of that state. Much of the central portion of the U.S. was dry in August, though Tropical Storm Charley helped ease the crop stress in the southern reaches of Texas. All in all, many of the crops that form the backbone of U.S. farming interests, i.e. corn, soybeans, and cotton, were hurt this summer by either late planting, or extreme heat and drought in the south-central U.S. However, with low production expected to send prices higher, the world market has so far helped to keep prices in check, due to a lack of demand and high production in foreign markets.

Respectfully submitted,
Erik Proseus

Minutes Approved
Mark Isaminger
Chairman