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.

Mild August weather not likely to approach heat-wave status soon

It doesn't get much better than this in August.

Mornings have been cool, commonly in the 50s across most of Southwest Virginia, while afternoons have risen into the upper 70s to mid-80s, warm but not sultry.

A year ago on Aug. 8-10, the mercury reached 100, 101 and 99 on successive days in Roanoke, and the lows were barely getting below 80.

Our air mass the past few days has built in from the northwest, originating in Canada. Last year at this time, it had come from the southwest, out of the hot desert and Plains areas.

Low dew points are the big reason we are seeing cool weather at night and a relatively wide range between morning lows and afternoon highs.

Water vapor in the air acts as an insulator. Temperatures rise and fall more slowly when the air is humid compared to when it is dry.

Dew points were usually in the 60s last year during our heat wave. This weekend, dew points have been as low as the 40s, and the relative humidity dropped to as low as 18 percent in Roanoke on Saturday.

Expect it to gradually warm and get a little more humid this week, but no drastic heat is in sight.