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.

Coastal storm may bring needed rain

The first significant rainfall in months not related to a tropical system or clusters of thunderstorms may be only a day away.

Forecasts have taken a wetter turn since early in the week because of a low pressure system expected to form off the Southeast U.S. coast and then slowly move northward.

This low has actually been projected by computer forecast models for more than a week, but recent developments favor a stronger, slower, more western low that will spread rain over our region.

This is a coastal low forming along a frontal boundary, more typical of the precipitation makers we see in our cooler seasons. It is expected to spread rain over much of the Carolinas and Virginia on Thursday and Friday before pulling north for the weekend.

Rainfall amounts may top an inch in many areas, especially along and east of the Blue Ridge.

This coastal low may kick up quite a bit of wind and waves along the coasts of the Carolinas. Gale warnings have been issued and waves of up to 15 feet are forecast.

This is not a tropical system, but one could eventually become a factor in this storm.

A disturbance near Hispaniola may become a tropical depression or even a tropical storm and be pulled northward. At this time, it appears the coastal low and front will actually deflect the tropical system away from the coast rather than absorb it, at least through the time it would affect us.

So it looks like a typical fall rain for us, hopefully the first of many that can help ease the long-term drought. If forecast trends continue as expected for the next couple of weeks, we could also be in for some autumn chill entering October.