Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

• Weather Journal taking a long break
• Yes, there's still an Atlantic tropical season going on
• Freezing temperatures likely tonight

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.

Bertha's earliness could signal an active hurricane season

A large cluster of thunderstorms moved westward off the coast of Africa last week, and soon became Tropical Storm Bertha.

This is not an unusual occurrence during the Atlantic tropical season. But it is unusually early.

Most Atlantic basin tropical systems that develop in June and July form in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean, where water temperatures can more quickly reach 80 degrees as early summer sun heats relatively shallow water.

The so-called Cape Verde hurricane season, when systems moving off the coast of Africa are more likely to become tropical storms, usually doesn't start until August and runs into September and October.

Bertha will be tracking west to northwest for many days across open water, a threat to nothing but shipping interests. Any strengthening is expected to be slow, though it may achieve hurricane status within a couple of days.

A week to 10 days from now, there is a chance that Bertha could affect the U.S. East Coast. A curve toward the central Atlantic is a little more likely, but the chance of its affecting the East Coast is enough to keep a wary eye on it.

The bigger question: Does the early emergence of a Cape Verde-type tropical system suggest an active hurricane season is ahead? We should know within a few weeks.