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.

Summery temps to linger awhile

Roanoke reached 91 degrees on Saturday, making it the first 90-degree April day in seven years.

The 90-degree mark had not been breached so early in the year since it hit 90 on April 16, 2002.

By contrast, Roanoke's first 90-degree reading in the following year, 2003, didn't happen until two months later, on June 25.

Even last year, Roanoke didn't reach 90 until June 4, the day after a small tornado passed through the city and the first day of a torrid weeklong run of highs mostly in the mid-90s. It didn't even reach 80 for the first time until April 11 in 2008.

Saturday's high matched the highest temperature of the entire year in 2004, which happened on Aug. 19 and 20. Saturday's high was also 3 degrees higher than Roanoke's normal high of 88 in late July and August, the peak of summer's heat.

By any measure, this weekend's heat was more like summer than midspring.

After a high of 89 on Sunday, expect two more days of summerlike temperatures before more springlike warmth in the 70s, accompanied by showers and thunderstorms, returns at midweek.