Kevin Myatt

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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.

If on the other end of calendar, we'd be wallowing in snow

For all you hibernating winter fans dreaming of the perfect weather pattern for an old-fashioned bout of prolonged cold and snow, it finally happened.

In July.

There's been a blocking high pressure system over Greenland, a southward dipping jet stream over the eastern U.S., a persistent upper-level low spinning somewhere near the Great Lakes or Hudson Bay, and strong high pressure over the western United States -- all of which have contributed to drive unusually cool temperatures southward into the central and eastern U.S.

We've had frequent cold frontal passages and strong disturbances diving through the jet stream, sweeping abundant gulf moisture northward. We've even had a few cold-air damming scenarios in which cooler air has been pressed from the northeast against the Appalachians.

If this pattern had dominated a January instead of a July, we would probably have piles of snow after weeks of cold weather, with a few bouts of bitter cold. (I realize that the thought of this sends shivers down the spine of the snow haters out there, many of whom would also prefer a more typical summer than we've had.)

The Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and New England, where some locations will set new standards for the coldest July on record dating to the 1800s, would be frozen solid by this point. And the West -- the Pacific Northwest is in the midst of a triple-digit heat wave currently, with Seattle setting an all-time record high of 103 on Wednesday -- would be wondering where winter went.

We have one day left in July. Warm but not hot temperatures today may nudge averages upward a tenth or two-tenths of a degree, but that won't keep several categories of temperature statistics from ranking July among the coolest on record for Roanoke and Blacksburg.

n Roanoke's average temperature for July through 30 days is 73.3 degrees. That would tie it with July 2000 for the sixth coolest July on record, dating to 1912. Today's forecast highs in the mid-80s could nudge the average to 73.4, tying it for seventh with 1967. The coolest July on record was 71.7 degrees in 1947; the hottest, 80.2 degrees in 1993. Normal for July is considered to be 76.2 degrees.

n Roanoke's average July high temperature of 82.7 is the fifth coolest, a ranking likely to hold today even if the average bumps up a little. The coolest average high temperature for July in Roanoke was set just nine years ago, in 2000, at 81.8 degrees.

n Blacksburg's average temperature of 68.3 degrees through 30 days is tied for the third coolest July with 1979. Blacksburg's weather records begin in 1953. The coolest July on record in Blacksburg was in 1967 at 67.6 degrees; the warmest was in 1993 at 75.9 degrees. July's normal average temperature for Blacksburg is 71.1 degrees.

n Blacksburg's average high temperature through Thursday is 78.2 degrees, which places it third coolest. Like Roanoke, Blacksburg's coolest July for high temperatures was in 2000, when daily maximums averaged 77.6 degrees.

n July also stands, through 5 p.m. Thursday, as the sixth wettest on record in Blacksburg, with 6.25 inches. Just a tenth of an inch of rain today in expected showers and thunderstorms would move it to fifth wettest, and a heavier downpour of an inch or more could raise it even higher in the rankings. Roanoke has had 5.83 inches of rain, nearly 2 inches more than normal for July. Three-quarters of an inch today could move it into the top 10.

There's no clear signal that August is going to begin much differently than what we've seen in July. While some warm, humid periods like we've experienced lately may be in offing, no prolonged hot, dry pattern is on the horizon.

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