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.

Approaching pattern more mild than wild

Cue the zonal flow.

After another day or two of these chilly but mostly dry northwest winds that have defined much of the winter, the weather pattern will reshape itself to bring a fairly steady west-to-east flow across the nation at the high levels of the atmosphere. This is called a zonal flow.

This will supply a pipeline of milder air off the Pacific Ocean, and periodically bring storm systems across the nation -- some of which could bring rain.

It's much of what we would expect for early spring, which begins Sunday on the meteorological calendar ... and not for three more weeks on the astronomical calendar.

Highs this week, after today, should be in the 50s most days, with 60s not out of the question a day or two later in the week.

A cold front late in the week, preceded by a chance of rain, may trim the temperatures back a little. But it will be off the Pacific, too -- not out of Canada, where our coldest air comes from.

Winter almost never surrenders without a fight, so expect a couple of additional punches of Arctic air as we move through March. But for the next few days, things look more mild than wild.