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.

Tornado season starts slow but could speed up

Tornado season is off to a slow start, at least compared with the past few years. Blessedly, tornado deaths also are much fewer.

Through Monday, based on reports turned in to the various National Weather Service offices and collected by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., there had been 162 reported tornadoes across the United States.

That is the least through the same period of time since there were slightly more than 100 by the end of March in 2005.

By this same time a year ago, there had already been more than 500 tornado reports nationally, on the way to 1,690 for the year.

Bolstered largely by the 59 killed in the massive "Super Tuesday Outbreak" across the South on Feb. 5, there had already been 70 tornado deaths by this time in 2008. Through Monday, only nine have died in tornadoes this year.

There are undoubtedly several factors at work keeping the tornado numbers relatively low so far this year.

One of the biggest may be how far south cold air masses continue to dive in the central U.S. Heavy snow fell in the central and southern Plains last week, and each new cold front suppresses the return of sultry Gulf of Mexico moisture that fuels supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes.

A slow start does not necessarily mean it will stay that way. 2004 had fewer than 100 tornado reports by the end of March, and ended up with 1,820 for the year, the most on record.