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.

Interest swirling around Tech meteorology program

Virginia has three National Weather Service offices, but no colleges that offer a bachelor's degree in meteorology.

The National Weather Service office in Blacksburg is within smelling distance of Lane Stadium tailgating, but Virginia Tech has offered only a few meteorology classes over the years.

Bill Carstensen, chairman of the geography department at Tech, wants to change that. The upcoming storm-chasing trip is a step toward a meteorology major being offered at Tech.

For the fifth straight year, I'm going along with the storm-chasing team led by Virginia Tech meteorology instructor Dave Carroll. We are scheduled to leave next week (day to be determined by the weather pattern) with a total of 16 people in three vehicles, headed for the Great Plains states. I will be serving as a volunteer co-leader on the trip, slated to last about two weeks. You can follow us on my Weather Journal blog on roanoke.com.

Virgina Tech took its first step toward offering a degree in meteorology last summer when it hired Carroll as a full-time instructor of meteorology. Carroll was among the first winners of the McGlothlin Award for Teaching Excellence for his meteorology instruction at Pulaski County High School, the centerpiece of which was an annual trip to the central United States to observe and track severe storms in the open terrain of "Tornado Alley."

Many students of Tech and other universities -- most notably the University of North Carolina at Asheville, which has its own thriving meteorology degree program -- joined high schoolers on Carroll's storm-chasing adventure through the years, some gaining college credit. But this is the first time the storm-chasing trip is being offered by Tech as a full-fledged field study course, with the entire 12-member student contingent hailing from Tech.

"The geography faculty in 2007 voted to add a new requirement for three hours of field experiences to our major check sheets," Carstensen said. "This requirement assures that each student participate in a geographically based activity outside of the classroom so they can put their classroom learning to work in the field. ... The storm chase is another offering that affirms our belief that this is an important element of education."

Obviously, with an economic downturn and tight public funding budgets, launching a new major has its challenges right now. But Tech has secured Carroll's funding for at least three years, and in time wants to hire one or two doctorate-holding professors to teach upper-level research courses, Carstensen said.

Carstensen expects Tech's program to be able to cut out its own unique niche in meteorological study.

"Our department has long been known for its Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing programs," Carstensen said. "Meteorology has moved toward those areas of late, but most of the long-term programs around the country do not have geospatial technology as a major component of the program."

There is already interest, Carstensen said.

"I have had a half-dozen inquiries about the possible program without any official word being sent out at all," he said. " I also have a lot of current majors who have asked about it, and many at present who are doing the full range of our current offerings."

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.