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.

Drought likely narrowed window of autumn hues

Each fall, I get questions about what kind of fall foliage we're going to have.

I know quite a bit about weather, but much less about the biology of leaves. I need some expert help.

To that end, I found some information on the Internet from North Carolina State University forestry professor Robert Bardon that explains some of what we might expect. He was talking specifically about North Carolina, but Virginia's topography and climate are very similar.

Drought, Bardon says, speeds up the color change cycle in leaves. They go from green to various colors to brown and then fall off much more quickly than they would with normal moisture.

So it's not that drought will cause trees not to have color, but that the window of fall hues might be much more narrow. So if you see color, get out quickly.

Generally speaking, the drought has been worse to the south of Roanoke, so the longer-lasting, brighter colors would seem more likely north of Roanoke.

The drought has been mitigated by heavier rain from summer thunderstorm clusters in some areas, and by at least three widespread rains over the past month.

Bardon says that in North Carolina, there will likely be pockets of better color based on local weather quirks such as these. He also encourages people to get out and see the changing leaves regardless of the expected quality of the hues.

"Nature always gives us something to see," Bardon said in the online news release. "The leaves may not be the brightest this year but with the landscape changing there is always something new and different to observe."