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.

3 storms crank up the season

The 2009 Atlantic tropical season got going as quickly as A-B-C this weekend. But that doesn't mean any cataclysms are imminent.

Tropical storms Ana and Bill developed Saturday in the eastern Atlantic, while Tropical Storm Claudette formed quickly on Sunday just south of the Florida Panhandle. It just as quickly was on the verge of making landfall Sunday evening before it could grow into much.

Ana weakened to a tropical depression Sunday, and though its forecast path would take it into the Gulf of Mexico later this week, it faces an uphill struggle just to survive against shearing winds, dry air aloft and the likelihood of scraping the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba.

If it can survive all that and make it into the gulf, then coastal residents from Texas to Florida will need to take heed.

Bill has the best chance to become a hurricane, but by the time it gets far enough west to threaten North America, a new weather pattern over the continent could deflect it out to sea.

A southerly dipping jet stream over the U.S. is expected to bring a return of cooler weather for our region by next weekend or early next week, after a fairly hot week upcoming.

If that jet stream dip develops, Bill may get scooped northward over the open Atlantic.

Hurricanes are likely to struggle to develop and move westward as the tropical season peaks in the weeks ahead, but it only takes one monster getting through to cast a different light on the entire season.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.