Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

• A bit of snow overnight as the winds roar
• UPDATE 5:30 PM: We'll remember this for winds, not snow
• UPDATE 12:40 PM: Window for pure snow closing; sleet/freezing rain more likely

About Kevin

Kevin Myatt grew up in Arkansas to the tune of tornado sirens and the rhythm of hailstones, aspiring to be a meteorologist before his studies and career were turned to journalism instead. Though he often chases storms, he prefers living in the cooler, more tranquil weather of the Blue Ridge. He moved to Roanoke in 1999 to take a job on the copy desk of The Roanoke Times; writing headlines and editing copy is his principal work for the newspaper today.

Each May, Kevin assists Pulaski County High School / Virginia Tech meteorology instructor Dave Carroll in leading college and high school students to the Plains to observe severe weather firsthand. The accounts of many of his storm chases can be found here on the storm chasing page of his weather blog on roanoke.com.

Kevin was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States," a book written by D.C.-area weather enthusiast Rick Schwartz and published by Blue Diamond Books that documents hurricanes striking the mid-Atlantic states since colonial times.

The Weather Journal column began in 2003 and appears on Friday's Virginia section front in The Roanoke Times. The Weather Journal blog began in 2006 and follows weather day-by-day between the larger columns.

Avalanche of wind probably a microburst

Wednesday afternoon proved that there doesn't always have to be a massive, multicolored blob on radar nearby for there to be nasty weather where you are.

A rather unremarkable thunderstorm cell developed over Salem on Wednesday afternoon, one of many dotting the map as afternoon heating boiled up some convection for about the umpteenth straight day this month. For most of us, it was a few claps of thunder, some sudden but short-lived downpours, and maybe a bit of wind rippling the trees. But in one small area of Salem, according to a witness, it was "five minutes of chaos."

At Salem Municipal Baseball Stadium, preparations were under way for the night's game between the Salem Avalanche and the Winston-Salem Warthogs. What ensued in those five minutes was enough to cancel that game. Winds peeled a sign into the outfield and lifted a 300-pound, deflated children's "bounce house" into the air and blew over some concession carts. Lightning took out a scoreboard. Some trees nearby were damaged.

Most likely, what hit the stadium was a microburst, or an intense downdraft out of the thunderstorm.

Microbursts in violent thunderstorms can unleash winds of more than 100 mph over an area that can extend many square miles. Those caught under severe microbursts often mistake them for tornadoes, because the mighty downburst of wind can create a large roar and produce similar damage.

However, a survey of damage afterward shows unmistakable differences. In a tornado, debris is twisted toward the center of a straight path. In a microburst, the damage fans outward from a central point.

Even a mild thunderstorm like that on Wednesday contains strong downdrafts that can become microbursts reaching the ground in a localized area. This microburst probably contained winds of between 50 mph and 60 mph right where it came to the surface, which was probably right on the Salem stadium/civic center grounds. The winds weakened as they fanned out from this central point, so that might explain why the Salem police had no reports of damage.

I can sympathize. Once, when I was a teen, a tiny dot of a thunderstorm passed over my house and unleashed an incredible burst of tree-bending gusts for about 10 minutes. I eagerly awaited the news that evening to see reports of the widespread damage I was sure had occurred across the area. But there was nothing. That was just my little microburst.

Still bad weather

in Bangladesh

Since I wrote my column a month ago on the nation I would nominate for having the world's worst weather - a column that received a surprisingly strong response from readers, including one from Bangladesh - things have only gotten worse for the crowded little nation east of India.

The good news is that tornado season has ended in Bangladesh. The bad news is that, since I last wrote, there has been a major heat wave with temperatures pushing as high as 105 degrees in Dhaka, the capital. Now, there's a cyclone (hurricane) bearing down on the country from that sultry pot of ocean stew called the Bay of Bengal.

A microburst doesn't seem so bad.