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.

Turning the tables by extending an open invitation to forecast Roanoke's snowfall

I get asked a lot about what's going to happen this winter, but I'm going to turn the tables back on you. E-mail me at kevin.myatt@roanoke.com with your name and hometown, and answer these questions.

(1) When will the first official 1-inch snowfall of the season be recorded in Roanoke? When I say 1 inch, I mean at least 1.0 inch recorded in one calendar day or two consecutive calendar days, as reported by the National Weather Service in its daily climate report.

(2) How much snowfall, rounded to the nearest inch, will Roanoke record between now and April 15?

About 22 inches is considered normal, but we've varied from 3 inches in 1973 to 63 inches in 1960.

Any reader in Southwest Virginia (or if you have another tie to the area but live elsewhere, let me know in your e-mail) can enter, but remember -- you're predicting for Roanoke's official measurement, not your back yard.

There is no real prize for winning, other than the glory of having your name and forecasting prowess declared in a Weather Journal column next spring.

While I'll note who does best on each question, I'll score the overall contest this way: 1 point for each day off the first snow call, 1 point for each inch off the season total call. Like golf, whoever has the lowest score wins.

I will be coming out with my annual winter forecast near Thanksgiving, but this contest wouldn't be right unless I stuck out my neck to make a guess, too.

My predictions: First 1-inch snow on Dec. 16. Total of 17 inches for the season.

So bring it on.