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.

Coming chilly spell doesn't look disastrous

Don't be surprised to see a few snowflakes in the air this morning, especially in higher elevations.

Snow doesn't always happen in mid-April around here, but it's not extremely unusual, either. In fact, Southwest Virginia had snow showers as late as April 16 last year.

The next couple of mornings will be unseasonably cold, flirting with the freezing mark, but neither record-breaking cold nor the kind of freeze like the one that killed many peaches and apples last April is expected.

Roanoke's record low for April 14 is 26 and for April 15 it is 25; both records were set in 1950. Blacksburg's record lows for the same dates are 18 and 22, respectively, both set in 1973. Roanoke's daily extreme weather records date to 1912, while Blacksburg's records go back only to 1953.

Those records probably won't be challenged, and Roanoke's temperature may even hover above the critical 32-degree threshhold.

Winds may not become calm enough for widespread frost. Any amount of wind keeps the air stirred up just enough that the temperature of surface objects does not drop to the dew point, which allows moisture to condense into frost.

Also, we did not have the same kind of March warmth we had a year ago, so plants are not nearly as far along in blooming and greening as they were in 2007. There is less to damage than there was in the much longer and more intense April freeze last year.

This brief aftertaste of winter will pass quickly. The overall trend for the next seven to 10 days favors warm, dry weather.

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