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Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog
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.
Even though we've seen hundreds of tornadoes, more could be coming
By Kevin Myatt
The Roanoke Times
There have been a lot of tornadoes in the United States so far this year. That should come as no shock if you've paid attention to the news.
Following last week's outbreaks in southeast Virginia and the central U.S., there had been 731 tornado reports since Jan. 1 nationally, according to the Storm Prediction Center. That's running more than 100 ahead of the same time a year ago, and even more than that over the two years before.
Over the past decade, the Storm Prediction Center calculates there have been an average of 1,270 tornadoes reported in the United States each year. It's next to impossible to compare annual tornado records for recent years to those further back than that. Only in recent years have Doppler radar and swarms of spotters and chasers allowed the detection of hundreds of twisters that would have previously gone uncounted.
Experts sift back through the tornado reports months after they occur, combining duplicate reports, so the overall numbers typically drop some. But still, it's safe to say the U.S. is probably at least halfway to the annual average with the prime tornado-spawning month of May having just begun.
Most alarming is that 76 people have already died in tornadoes this year. In all of 2007, which was considered an active year, 81 died. Tornado deaths have not topped 100 in a calendar year since 130 died in 1998.
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