Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

• Weather Journal remains on break
• Coastal low prompts Southwest Virginia flooding
• Hurricane Ida: Something extraordinary may be happening

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.

Data confirm a chilly July in the eastern U.S.

Statewide average temperatures for July vividly display the unusually chilly weather pattern that covered much of the northern and eastern U.S.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, July 2009 was the coldest July on record in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, dating to 1895.

It was among the 12 coldest on record in Virginia and 19 other states, stretching from North Dakota to Alabama, and Arkansas to Maine.

Among the contiguous 48 states, 35 states had below-normal temperatures in July. Florida was the only state east of the Mississippi that had above-normal temperatures for the month.

West of the Mississippi, it was among the 12 warmest on record in Arizona, New Mexico and Washington.

A stubborn and prevailing pattern of strong high pressure in the West and a deep southerly dipping jet stream in the East, forced southward by high pressure over Greenland blocking its typical west-to-east flow, was the cause of both the heat in the West and unusual summer chill in the East.

That pattern has unraveled some since the end of July, and hotter weather has moved into some of the areas that were cool. Expect a much different August temperature map.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.