Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

• Weather Journal remains on break
• Coastal low prompts Southwest Virginia flooding
• Hurricane Ida: Something extraordinary may be happening

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.

Early June heat wave makes records

Though the temperature hasn't made it to 100, this has been an early June heat wave for the record books.

The following records have been broken or tied in Roanoke:

• Thursday, low of 75, shattered previous June 5 record for warmest low, 69, set in 2002.

• Friday, low of 70, broke previous June 6 record for warmest low, 68, set in 1918.

• Friday, high of 96; tied record high for June 6 set in 1939.

• Saturday, low of 71, tied previous June 7 record for warmest low, set in 1952.

• Saturday, high of 96; broke previous record high for June 7, 95, set in 1925.

• Sunday, low of 73; broke previous June 8 record for warmest low, 71, set in 1995.

Blacksburg has also tied or broken several heat records since Wednesday.

• Wednesday, high of 86, tied June 4 record high set in 1987.

• Thursday, high of 88, tied June 5 record high set in 2002.

• Friday, high of 90, broke June 6 record high of 88 set in 2002. Also set record for earliest 90-degree day, which was previously June 8, 1984.

• Saturday, high of 90, broke June 7 record high of 89 set in 1984.

• Sunday, high of 93, broke June 8 record high of 90 set in 1984.

Temperatures will slowly cool through the week as moisture increases and a cold front attempts to push into the area. It may even return to near normal, the low 80s, late this week.