Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

• UPDATE 10:15 AM: A not-so-gray Monday, then a little white?
• A race against the rain on Sunday
• Sunday afternoon showers possible, but heavier rain likely overnight into Monday

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.

Summer heat may dog us soon

The "dog days" will have their day yet.

In astronomy, the "dog days" refer to the approximate period of time when Sirius, the so-called "dog star," rises and sets with the sun (in other words, you can't see it, it's up in the daytime). Roanoke Times astronomy columnist John Goss describes the time frame as "July 30 plus or minus 10 days or so (July 20 -- Aug. 9)."

In summer weather, we've come to associate the "dog days" with stifling heat for day upon day.

This summer has mostly been a cool puppy, but there are indications that truly summerlike heat hasn't just rolled over for the season. In fact, it's yapping at our heels.

Toward the latter part of this week, the southerly dip in the jet stream that has funneled cool air from Canada southward into northern and eastern states is likely to begin shifting northeastward as a strong high pressure system builds in from the southwest.

This high pressure system is the summer "heat dome" that tends to shift around the nation in the summer months, determining where the hottest weather is. It has been anchored in the Southwest much of the summer, but is expected to shift into the central U.S. by the weekend and then expand to cover much of the nation east of the Rockies.

If this new pattern comes to fruition, several days in the next couple of weeks could top 90 degrees in our region.

Whether it can make it to 100 a day or two will be determined by whether the coming hot spell has a bite even bigger than its bark.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.