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.

Chasing storms from a distance

Spring is tornado season in the central U.S., but each fall brings a new season of "Storm Chasers" on the Discovery Channel.

New episodes, from the previous storm chase season, appear on Sundays at 10 p.m. and then replay on Thursdays at 10 p.m. The episode airing this week is the second of eight scheduled.

"Storm Chasers" focuses on a few high-intensity crews, including two in armored vehicles and another seeking to plant probes in a tornado's path.

The series can provide conversation fodder among storm chasers, as we alternately admire and cringe at the featured chase teams' adventures -- especially if we happened to be on the same storm. (That's not likely this season, since the Virginia Tech storm chasers were out during this spring's weakest period for severe weather. But we were there for the biggest days of the 2008 season.)

This season of "Storm Chasers" will include a few inside-the-tornado intercepts by storm chaser Reed Timmer, aboard the fire-engine red Dominator armored vehicle. Timmer suffered minor injuries to his face from a blown-out vehicle window in a Nebraska tornado in June.

Now that actually getting inside a tornado is the goal of the most publicized chase teams, one has to wonder if it's only a matter of time until the strength of a tornado is underestimated and an intercept vehicle becomes airborne debris, possibly with deadly consequences.

Nonetheless, putting those worries aside, "Storm Chasers" does get me thinking about another outing in the Plains on the far side of falling leaves, snowflakes and spring mountain laurel. But I prefer viewing from a bit safer distance.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.