Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

kevin.myatt
@roanoke.com
981-3341

Weather with Kevin Myatt

Recent columns

• We got graupel, but not on official record
• Moisture could get caught up in cold blast
• Forecast for Weather Journal: Partly print, with frequent Internet
• Column archive

Read the Weather Journal blog

• Sprinkles or flurries possible Tuesday, but maybe something bigger for the weekend?
• For now, it looks like a quiet, mostly mild week ahead for SW Virginia
• Coldest morning of winter so far likely across much of Southwest Virginia; Tuesday precipitation looking doubtful
• Weather Journal blog

#swvawx on Twitter

@KevinMyattWx

• Follow Kevin on Twitter at @KevinMyattWx

You may remember back in June and July that unusually high tides affected much of the East Coast, ranging from 6 inches to 2 feet above normal.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report points to two causes of the high seas, exceptional in their intensity, duration and areal coverage:

n Steady northeast winds pushing water toward the coast.

n A slowdown of the Florida Transport Current, which feeds into the Gulf Stream, the strong north-flowing warm ocean current just off the East Coast.

High pressure persisted near Greenland much of early to midsummer. In addition to forcing the jet stream unusually far to the south, causing record low July temperatures in much of the Midwest and East, it pushed northeast winds toward the East Coast, banking water against the seaboard.

The ocean current slowdown is not as readily understood.

One of the back-and-forth issues within climate change science is whether cold Arctic meltwater flowing southward will one day slow down the entire Gulf Stream, resulting in a period of sharp cooling for eastern North America and Europe.

In this case, however, the answer may be related to natural climatic variables, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, a shift in which led to the persistent high near Greenland. Researchers will be looking beyond the two pinpointed factors to trace their underlying causes.

Weather Journal runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.