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.

Dolly may be 2nd U.S. hurricane since '05

It's hard to believe, but it's been 33 months -- nearly three years -- since we've watched a tropical system approach with the expectation of a possible hurricane landfall on a U.S. shoreline.

Hurricane Dolly is expected to come onshore today near Brownsville, Texas.

Not since Hurricane Wilma roared toward the southwest coast of Florida on Oct. 24, 2005, has there been more than a day's preparation for a potential hurricane landfall in the United States.

After 10 hurricanes made U.S. landfall in 2004 and 2005, only one has since. Hurricane Humberto came ashore last year near the Texas-Louisiana border, but there wasn't any time to anticipate it -- Humberto unexpectedly intensified from tropical depression to Category 2 hurricane in about 20 hours.

Dolly may come ashore on the Mexico side of the border, but even if it does, Brownsville could get pounded by the northern eye wall and a storm surge.

The least-impact location for landfall would be Kenedy County, Texas, between Brownsville and Corpus Christi. Only about 400 people live in that county amid almost 2,000 square miles. Category 3 Hurricane Bret hit there in 1999, and property damage was minimal because there's not much property to damage.

In any event, this will be the second scrape with a tropical system for the U.S. in four days, and a new tropical wave coming off the coast of Africa may become the season's fifth named storm.

It looks as if a busy Atlantic tropical season is afoot.