Contact:  Bob Chartuk
          
                            MEDIA ADVISORY

     NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TEAM ISSUES REPORT ON APRIL 8 TORNADOES

On the evening of April 8, 1998, tornadoes as powerful as F5 (the most powerful on the Fujita Scale) swept through Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia causing considerable loss of life, injuries, and property loss.

The National Weather Service's Southern Region Headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, coordinated a Regional Service Assessment Team to review operations and effectiveness of products and services provided during the event by NWS offices in Memphis, Tenn., Birmingham, Ala., and Atlanta, Ga. The team's report is now available on the Internet at:

Team Leader Andy Anderson, who serves as meteorologist-in-charge of the weather service office in Lubbock, Texas, noted: "While tornado watches and warnings were issued in advance of all tornado touchdowns, there were still 36 deaths. Most of the deaths are attributed to a rare F5 tornado, one of the strongest in Alabama history, that moved through several residential areas near Birmingham. There were numerous instances of people hearing the warnings, taking protective actions, and surviving the storms. But for some, even taking the proper precautions was not enough because of the destructive power of the F5 tornado," Anderson concluded.