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.

Despite current bitter cold, don't expect a white Christmas

Tonight will likely be the coldest night so far this season, with temperatures falling well into the teens, maybe single digits in some areas. Today's highs may not get above freezing.

By Tuesday night, moisture will be racing in with a new storm system.

Very cold air. Moisture. A sure recipe for some wintry precipitation?

Nope.

Despite this sharp, two-day Arctic blast we're enduring, the overall weather pattern hasn't changed. Low-pressure systems moving in from the west are traveling on paths to the north of our area.

As a result, each new storm system sweeps in milder air ahead of it, and then pulls colder air in behind it.

The moisture pushes out the cold air. The cold air pushes out the moisture. It's a cat chasing its tail for snow lovers, or anyone who'd like a white Christmas.

While some brief freezing rain, sleet or even snow is possible at the front end of this next round of precipitation, it looks like it will be another round of well-above-freezing rain Tuesday night and Wednesday for our region.