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.

It sounds flaky, but Roanoke has gotten snow before Blacksburg

A typo led me to an interesting question.

In Friday's Weather Journal column, a "1" was inadvertently left out in my projected date for Roanoke's first snowfall of at least 1 inch. What made it into print was a projection of Roanoke's first 1-inch snowfall on Dec. 3 (not Dec. 13 as I intended) and Blacksburg's on Dec. 4.

I would never intentionally project Roanoke's first significant snow ahead of Blacksburg's, even by a day.

But it begs the question: Has Roanoke ever gotten its first snow of 1 inch or more before Blacksburg in any season?

A few minutes of research provided at least three examples of just that.

n In 1957, Roanoke got an inch of snow on Oct. 27 and then 2 inches on Nov. 23. Blacksburg's first inch of snow fell two months later, on Jan. 24, 1958, when both sites got 4 inches.

n In 1970, Roanoke got 2 inches on Nov. 4 and again on Dec. 16. Blacksburg did not crack an inch until just barely doing so on Dec. 31 -- when Roanoke got 9 inches. (Blacksburg caught up some with 5 inches on the first day of 1971, while Roanoke got no additional snow.)

n On Nov. 26, 1978, Roanoke got 2 inches of snow. Blacksburg's first inch of snow didn't happen until Jan. 6, 1979.

You still can enter the 2009-10 snowfall prediction contest through Friday. Send your guesses for the date of first 1-inch snowfall and total snowfall for the season (Nov. 15 to April 15) in both Roanoke and Blacksburg to weather@roanoke.com, along with your name and location (city, town or county section -- or school if a student).

Weather Journal runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.