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.

Floyd Co. twister punctuates weekend weather

Indian Valley in Floyd County has been the weather capital of Southwest Virginia lately.

A week ago today, it was a hailstorm that covered the hillsides like snow. Sunday, it was a small tornado.

Early Sunday evening, a cluster of heavy rain showers and thunderstorms moved through Southwest Virginia. Roanoke experienced the northern edge of the cluster.

Farther south, with more atmospheric shear aloft along a stationary front, the winds rotated enough for brief, small tornadoes to develop in Rockingham County, N.C., and near Indian Valley.

The tornado's path, located three miles south-southwest of Indian Valley, was about a mile in length, according to a storm survey Monday by meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Blacksburg.

Winds in the storm were estimated at 75 to 85 mph, placing it as a high-end EF-0, the lowest rung on the Fujita Scale. The tornado was 60 yards wide and lasted about a minute. Damage was confined to several trees and a few small structures, with one shed flattened, the weather service said.

The Floyd County tornado was very similar to the June 3 tornado that skipped through South Roanoke.

There will be a chance for more heavy rain and some severe storms the rest of this week as a series of low pressure systems move along a flip-flopping front just to our south.