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.

Hail criterion changing for severe thunderstorms

It will become a little harder for a thunderstorm to be considered severe in 2010.

The National Weather Service's Eastern Region -- which includes its office in Blacksburg -- is adopting a new rule that hail size of 1 inch makes a storm severe, an increase over the three-quarter-inch requirement currently in effect.

The 1-inch criterion has been tested in other weather service regions in previous years.

A storm is also considered severe if it has 58 mph winds or greater. That requirement isn't changing.

It is important to note that the wind and hail requirements are "either/or," not "both/and." If either the wind or hail requirement is met by ground observation, or if there is a strong expectation of the hail or wind requirement being met based on Doppler radar, a severe thunderstorm warning is issued.

The net effect is likely to be that fewer severe thunderstorm warnings will be issued. Some people feel as if there are too many such warnings, and therefore the warnings often get ignored.

The weather service is also issuing warnings for more narrow geographic areas, often parts of counties rather than entire counties, with specific communities affected named in the warnings.

It's all an effort at greater precision, and to make the warnings meaningful for the public.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.