Kevin Myatt

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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.

Remember when September meant fall?

The calendar flipped to fall Sunday, but summerlike heat is back.

Sunday's high reached 90 in Roanoke and Tuesday hit 93, breaking a 37-year-old record for the date. That makes 52 days this year and nine days this month that the temperature has climbed to at least 90. Only four other years and four other Septembers have had more 90-degree days since official temperature records began at Roanoke Regional Airport in 1948.

For those of you who prefer more fall-like temperatures this time of year, let's step back to a September that was actually cool, when leaves were turning colors because of some chilly days and not just because they were drying out and falling off.

Let's go way back to 2006.

That's right, last year.

In September 2006, there were no days that hit 90 or above in Roanoke. There were no days that hit 85 or above, compared with 11 so far this September.

The warmest low temperature in September 2006 was 63 degrees. With five days left in this month, 10 mornings have been at least that warm, and two have been 70 or above.

September 2006 was the sixth coolest such month on record in Roanoke, with an average temperature of 65.1 degrees. The month's average high temperature, 74.2, was the coolest of any September on record.

If September had ended Monday, it would have been the fifth warmest on record at 71.7 degrees. Forecasted temperatures the rest of the week are likely to keep this September among the top few warmest, but probably will not be enough to carry it past the record of 73.6 set in 1998.

Why the big difference in September in consecutive years?

It all goes to the prevailing jet stream pattern.

As August began turning to September last year, strong high pressure developed over the Western U.S., bringing extreme heat to that region. The jet stream was channeled up and over that high and then forced southward into the Eastern states, allowing cool air from Canada to settle in unusually early.

This year, the pattern is almost reversed.

Except for a few days of cool weather in the middle of the month, high pressure has been in charge over the central and Eastern U.S., keeping the jet stream in Canada. That has allowed hot air, prevalent to the extreme in August, to hang on most of this month.

The jet stream is expected to start dipping far to the south over the Western U.S., so expect to see some cold weather developing out there. The mountains in the West will probably start getting some substantial snow over the next couple of weeks.

Though we'll see the warmth edged off later this week by a cold front, October appears likely to start warm and dry in most areas of the country east of the Rockies.

It's going to take some work by the jet stream to root out the warm high pressure system that has kept returning.

But as the sun angle lessens, the days get shorter and snow starts covering the ground across Canada, summer heat will have to work harder to keep its grasp on our weather.

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