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.

A hurricane by any other name ...

Since Hurricane Humberto exploded rapidly and came ashore two weeks ago on the Texas coast, we've run through four more named storms in the Atlantic that haven't come close to the U.S. shore.

Tropical Storm Ingrid piddled out just north of South America. Tropical Storm Jerry formed way out in the central Atlantic Ocean and then drifted northeast, dying over the cold water of the North Atlantic.

Tropical Storm Karen, which flirted with hurricane strength earlier, is still out there, but has turned northwest away from the Caribbean. Though it may yet make a western jog more toward the U.S, its prospects for strengthening, or even surviving, are not strong.

Hurricane Lorenzo blew up with similar haste as Humberto on Thursday, but has already gone inland in Mexico just west of the Bay of Campeche, well south of the U.S.

We could soon have a Tropical Storm Melissa. A tropical depression has formed well out in the ocean between South America and Africa. It looks likely to turn northwest into open water and never threaten a large land mass.

There was a tropical depression earlier this week in the Gulf of Mexico that spun ashore in the Florida Panhandle before it could strengthen enough to garner a name.

Indeed, this continues to be a busy Atlantic hurricane season, but one that is having little effect on the United States.

Tropical fury runs much deeper than what hits the U.S. Considering just the Atlantic provides only a tiny peek into the spectrum of tropical cyclones around the world.

Besides the Atlantic tropical region, there are 11 other established zones around the world that experience activity frequent enough to have their own set of names.

Hurricanes are not called hurricanes everywhere. In the western Pacific, they're called typhoons. In the Indian Ocean, they're called cyclones.

Many Americans are somewhat familiar with the Eastern North Pacific hurricane season. These are the storms that form primarily off the western coast of Mexico.

Most head off west into the open water of the Pacific. Some curve more north and east and strike western Mexico. Once in a while, one will threaten Hawaii.

Cold water flowing down from the coast of Alaska protects the West Coast of the U.S. from hurricanes. Any storms moving that far north weaken over the cold water by the time they get near San Diego.

The Eastern North Pacific is monitored by the same National Hurricane Center in Miami that monitors the Atlantic. There is a separate alphabetical list of names applied to storms that reach tropical storm strength (40 mph winds or greater) in the eastern Pacific.

A new list is started each year, with the same list repeated every six years, except that the names of especially deadly or destructive hurricanes are retired and replaced.

Most other tropical zones do not start with new lists each year. Instead, the forecast centers monitoring those regions have ongoing lists that carry over from one season to the next.

In other words, following that pattern, if Melissa were the last storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, the 2008 season would begin with the next name on the list, Noel, not the first name of a new list, Arthur.

In the very active Western North Pacific region, where those big typhoons form that slam into eastern Asia, 14 nations in the region contribute two names to each of five ongoing lists.

That creates those typhoon names hard for the American tongue, such as Kalmaegi, Nanmadol and Nepartak. But then, do names on the Atlantic lists such as Dolly and Fred really invoke much fear?