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.

Why the valley's wind wails in winter but whispers in summer

During a lull in our weather last month, I solicited questions from readers on my roanoke.com blog.

With the weather looking quiet for several days, I will use some of these short weather updates on Mondays and Wednesdays to answer a few of those questions.

Reader question: Why is the Roanoke Valley windier in the winter than in the summer?

The primary reason we experience more wind in winter than summer is the location of the jet stream. The jet stream is a fast-moving river of air several miles above us that, roughly speaking, divides colder polar air to the north and warmer subtropical air to the south. The jet stream is the primary mover of weather systems such as low-pressure systems and cold fronts.

In summer, as the Northern Hemisphere warms, the jet stream retreats to Canada. As a result, we tend to have more stagnant air masses with weaker fronts and low-pressure systems. From fall to spring, the jet stream moves farther south as the hemisphere cools. During that time, more dynamic storm systems and cold fronts are pushed by the jet stream across the United States, and these usually have more wind.

Under certain circumstances, some of those high-level winds can be pulled to near the surface. When the jet stream is nearby -- as it is more likely to be in cooler months -- there are much stronger winds aloft that are available to be pulled down.