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.

This January showing signs that it won't start as warm as the past four

You only need to look at temperatures in the first 15 days of January over the past four years to get a feel for how those winters have gone.

From Jan. 1 to 15 in 2005 through 2008, there were 24 days with highs of 60 degrees or higher in Roanoke, but only nine days with lows below freezing.

There hasn't been a measurable snow in the first half of January since 4 inches fell on Jan. 9, 2004 -- and even that January began with five consecutive days above 60, one reaching 74.

A weather pattern featuring strong low pressure in the northern Pacific, sweeping mild air east-northeastward across the nation, has dominated early January each of the past four years.

But there are growing signals that this January will be different than the past four.

I wrote Monday about how high pressure building over Greenland is likely to begin buckling the jet stream southward, allowing cold air from Canada to sink into our region. Today's windy Arctic cold front begins that process.

But there are now also growing signals that the Pacific pattern will come in line for colder weather by the second week of January. High pressure near the West Coast may grow and force more Arctic air southward with its counterclockwise spin.

A stray 60-degree day can't be ruled out as this pattern sets up over the next week or two, but another round of extended early-January warmth looks unlikely.