Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

• Some nighttime weather fireworks on Independence Day?
• A new type of cloud?
• Much the same into the foreseeable future

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.

Whole lot of weather already

Wildfires. Floods. Tornadoes. Blizzards.

This is shaping up to be an extraordinarily intense weather year across the nation.

It's been pretty active in Southwest Virginia, too.

I usually wait until the end of the year to rank the top 10 local weather events. But it's been such an active half-year locally, it's worth going back now to take a look at some of the big weather events that have already occurred, all the while keeping in mind that the typically hottest weeks of summer, most of the Atlantic tropical season and the start of a new winter are all still ahead in 2008.

Feb. 10 wind storm

It will take something huge in the last six months of the year to knock this historic weather event out of the No. 1 spot. Several hours of 30 to 50 mph winds with gusts topping 70 on a partly cloudy afternoon caused widespread damage to trees, power lines, roof shingles, and even some structures across virtually all of Southwest Virginia.

The National Weather Service in Blacksburg had significant damage reported in all 40 of the counties it covers in three states, an unprecedented coverage of wind damage in its forecast area. At the peak, more than 100,000 people were without power across Virginia, and some 360 wildfires were sparked, the most on record in one day.

June 3 Roanoke tornado

Yes, it was a small, weak tornado that could have gone entirely unnoticed if it had lopped off a few trees deep in a national forest. But the intermittent rope funnel with 70 to 80 mph winds skipped through South Roanoke, in plain view of hundreds, perhaps thousands.

It did an estimated $350,000 in damage, with 10 homes damaged by falling trees or limbs.

It was the first confirmed tornado within the city in 34 years.

Drought and wildfires

Much of Southwest Virginia has remained in moderate drought throughout the first half of 2008; sporadic rains have not made a significant dent on three years of below-normal rainfall.

Occasional large wildfires have been sparked, including those on Poor Mountain near Elliston and in Botetourt County last month.

May 8 severe storms

There were numerous reports of high winds and hail across Southwest Virginia. A tornado with 85 to 95 mph winds was confirmed in northern Henry County and southern Franklin County, damaging four homes and the Blue Mountain stage near Snow Creek.

June 22 severe storms

Parts of Roanoke and Blacksburg were among many locations in Southwest Virginia nailed by severe hailstorms, as cold air dipped unusually low in the atmosphere for so late in the year, allowing for rapid storm growth and prolific hail.

June 4-10 heat wave

At a time of year when highs in the low 80s are typical for Roanoke, temperatures soared above 90 for a week, and went into the mid 90s on five consecutive days, setting or tying two daily record highs.

With highs in the upper 80s and low 90s when the upper 70s are more typical, Blacksburg set record highs on five consecutive days.

Late June severe storms

Last week, we had four days of intermittent severe weather, producing scattered wind damage and hail reports each day.

Feb. 1 ice storm

After years of ice storms that seemed to hit everywhere but Roanoke, the Star City was one of the hardest hit areas on Feb. 1, with power knocked out for about 2,000 homes. About 7,500 people were without power across Southwest Virginia, nearly half of those in Floyd County.

The rain stopped and temperatures crept above freezing just before it was about to get really serious.

Jan. 17 snowfall

As has been the custom the past four years, we squeezed one significant areawide snow out of a rather bland winter, with 4 to 8 inches of snow common across the Roanoke and New River valleys.

March 30 ice

It only affected scattered rural areas in higher elevations, but the lateness made it unusual.

While an early spring snow isn't uncommon, the atmospheric dynamics of that time of year usually make it difficult to maintain a thin layer of below-freezing air underneath many thousand feet of warm air, which is what makes freezing rain possible. Nevertheless, some parts of Southwest Virginia got a little icy late in March.

April 16 freeze

The last freeze actually came later than the epic killing freeze of spring 2007, four days later than the normal freeze for Roanoke. But this freeze didn't last as long as in 2007, it didn't get quite as cold over as wide an area, and it didn't follow an extremely warm March that had turned everything green, like in 2007.

This list would be busy for an entire year of weather. But there are still six months yet. We'll see what, if anything, happens to elbow its way onto this list.