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.

Predicted heat wave has gotten cold feet

One year ago today, Roanoke recorded its first 100-degree reading in eight years.

But this week's predicted heat wave wilted on the vine.

Tuesday, which days ago I even touted as an outside threat to make 100 in Roanoke, didn't even make it to 90, the day's heating cut off by clouds blowing off strong thunderstorms in the Ohio Valley.

Unlike a year ago, when it seemed like every threat of hot weather materialized into multiple days of upper 90s with a few days above 100, this summer is stumbling and bumbling in trying to kick off a real heat wave.

Typically in July and August, the jet stream -- the shifting river of wind 5 to 8 miles high that steers weather systems -- stays primarily over Canada, making only a few shallow dips into the far northern states.

But repeatedly this summer, it has dipped farther south, through the Great Lakes and into the Ohio Valley.

That's happening again this week. The jet stream dip is allowing cooler air from Canada to push out the worst of summer's heat.

This particular jet stream dive will even push back much of the extreme heat the central U.S. has experienced, replacing it with below-normal temperatures in that region that could last much of the next two weeks, according to the Climate Prediction Center.

Several days of normal to slightly below-normal temperatures appear likely for our area. We'll get into the 80s most days and have lows in the 60s most nights. A "normal" day in Roanoke this time year sees a high of 87 and low of 65.

Rainfall threats will depend on whatever moisture can work up from the Gulf of Mexico against a weather pattern bringing winds primarily out of a dry northwesterly direction. This is not a pattern that will bring the kind of repeated, areawide general rains we need to alleviate a moderate drought that is about 3 years old now. Such widespread rain the next several days would probably require a tropical system, but that always carries the risk of getting too much rain too fast.

The jet stream pattern we've seen this summer would probably make for a cold, snowy winter were it January instead. At the peak of the cold season, the jet stream would probably dip to the Gulf of Mexico, and any disturbance moving through it would have the potential to trigger a winter storm.

Winter fans can wonder if it's a sign of things to come or a wasted pattern at the wrong time of year. But for now, cold weather folks will just have to be content with an August that isn't quite as sweltering as it could be.