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.

Snowfall contest is a little tougher this year

On Friday, I will be introducing the second Weather Journal snowfall prediction contest.

But today, I will give you a heads-up on a new wrinkle in the contest.

This time, you will be asked to guess the date of the first 1-inch snowfall and the total inches of snow for the season not only for Roanoke Regional Airport (technically, snowfall is measured at nearby WDBJ, Channel 7), but also for the National Weather Service office at Blacksburg.

One reason I'm adding Blacksburg is out of respect for the many readers I have in the New River Valley and Virginia Tech communities who visit my blog and often correspond.

Another reason is that snowfall solely at Roanoke doesn't give a complete view of the region. It's not practical to include several sites across the area, but the two major reporting stations -- separated by 35 miles and more than 1,000 feet in elevation -- should make for a challenging contest that better represents the region.

It will make the contest harder.

Blacksburg usually gets more snow than Roanoke -- but not always. For instance, according to Southeast Regional Climate Center records, Roanoke got more snow than Blacksburg in three consecutive winters in the frigid late 1970s, and in 1982-83. (Some years are blurry on this point because of missing data at one or both sites.)

The first 1-inch snow can be on the same date for both sites or many weeks apart. Last winter was an extreme, with Blacksburg's first 1-inch snow on Nov. 17 and Roanoke's not until March 1.

Don't send your guesses in yet; just be thinking about it. The contest entry period will start Friday and run through Nov. 6.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.