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.

Another week, another halfhearted storm moves into Southwest Virginia

Another week begins, and we have another disorganized system that might bring a little snow to the area.

We've done this three weeks in a row with three very different types of storm systems. The first one brought a few inches to some locations south of Roanoke, but only a dusting to the southern part of the Roanoke Valley. The second one turned into a very cold rain/light icing situation.

So this could be strike three for Roanoke, where our snowfall total has been 0.4 inches since Nov. 18.

This time, disturbances digging through a southward diving jet stream may spin up a low pressure system to our east along the coast. That's a little too late to do a lot here, but as the disturbances move overhead, they may be able to kick off some rain later today, and perhaps snow overnight into Tuesday.

How quickly cold air is able to move into whatever moisture is left will be the key to whether anyone gets any serious accumulation out of this. The better chance will be in higher elevations, especially west of Interstate 81. Don't expect a lot, but an inch or two is not outside the realm of possibility.

Off and on mountain snow showers will continue Tuesday and Wednesday, and a mild period is likely to develop after this week.

So, whatever the groundhog sees or doesn't see today, winter may take a break for a while to either reload or retreat.