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.

70-degree temperature leap can't last

It felt like we jumped right from winter to summer last week.

Statistically, those feelings were accurate.

On Tuesday morning (March 3), Roanoke's low temperature was 13 degrees. On Saturday afternoon (March 7), Roanoke's high was 83 degrees.

That 70-degree shift in four days represents a jump from being 12 degrees colder than the normal low at the peak of January chill to the normal high temperature for mid-June.

Blacksburg also made a 70-degree shift in four days, vaulting from 6 to 76.

One question I would like to delve into a little deeper is whether such a 70-degree margin over four days has precedent in the recorded weather history of Southwest Virginia.

Winter periods moving quickly from the teens to low 70s, or vice versa, in a few days happen every few years. But to leap from the teens to the 80s so quickly is extremely rare.

The pendulum is set to swing back the other direction. Expect below-normal temperatures starting this weekend and stretching toward the middle of next week.

But it probably won't plummet 70 degrees.