Kevin Myatt

Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog

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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.

Meeting features weather professionals

"It must be nice to have a job where you can be wrong half the time and not get fired."

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that line fired at meteorologists.

It might be fun to say when a promised snow fails to happen or thunderstorms disrupt a day that was supposed to be dry, but it's simply not true. Most research shows modern weather forecasts are about 80 percent accurate. It's just that we only remember the times when the forecasts are wrong, and these play much bigger in our minds.

In truth, modern meteorology is saving hundreds if not thousands of lives every year through early warning and detection of violent storms.

You may know the names of some meteorologists on television, both locally and nationally, but the majority of meteorologists are like the majority of Americans who do day-to-day jobs without ever being widely known by the public. They've trained many years for their work and most share an intense passion for the weather, but they also go home to take care of families, pay bills and work in the yard.

On Tuesday, some of the meteorologists who work at the National Weather Service in Blacksburg will meet the public at the Roanoke Civic Center.

If you're into weather even a smidgen, this will be a rare opportunity to hear trained and experienced professionals not only talk about weather, but also show films and slides of various kinds of weather that can affect our area.

More importantly, it will be a chance to ask questions and make comments about what the weather service offers to the public.

You may or may not know what that is. If you don't, go online to www.erh.noaa.gov/rnk/ sometime and take a look.

While many entities offer their own local forecasts, the National Weather Service is the only one authorized to issue severe weather warnings. That can be a challenging task. Fire off too many warnings, and the public doesn't take heed. Fail to issue a warning on a particularly severe storm, and lives are in danger.

But don't be afraid to bring your hard questions to the weather service meteorologists ... something you can't figure out or something you think they did wrong. A big part of their job is not only educating the public about weather, but also answering questions and criticisms.

And they might have some funny stories to tell. Most weather geeks have a sense of humor, too.