diff --git a/prep_syndata/mod_perturb.f90 b/prep_syndata/mod_perturb.f90
index 0e3c383dafc2855491fb39b1b14c8c7b4fa49fb8..e83836e67691c894b4ff220dfee18511a18e56d3 100644
--- a/prep_syndata/mod_perturb.f90
+++ b/prep_syndata/mod_perturb.f90
@@ -208,10 +208,12 @@ module mod_perturb
     deallocate(seedvec)
 
     ! normalize random numbers
-    rvec = rvec*num/sum(rvec)
+    ! not needed with random_normal - RT 12/20
+!    rvec = rvec*num/sum(rvec)
  
     ! mean of zero
-    rvec = rvec - 1.
+    ! not needed with random_normal - RT 12/20
+!    rvec = rvec - 1.
 
   end subroutine randnum