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Weather Journal

with Kevin Myatt

What a snowstorm this could have been

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If you're a snow lover, today could go down in the annals of "what could have been." For the sake of holiday travel, it's a good thing we didn't get a snowstorm out of this pesky coastal low. But, sitting here with a 39-degree rain tonight, and having seen a bit of sleet and a few slushy near-snowflakes plop down on my windshield returning from Blacksburg today, it's not hard to imagine what could have been. If this storm had pulled in a richer vein of Arctic air, or even just a bit more air from continental Canada, I have no doubt that our Thanksgiving would be white. If this storm had occurred just a few weeks later, the ambient cold air of the winter season would have probably been deep enough to squeeze out wet snow instead of cold rain. Blow this storm up in mid-January with deep Arctic air being pulled down, and fluffy snow is blowing everywhere. This nor'easter certainly goes down as a peculiar weather event, with its flooding rains and strong winds along the coast, a general nuisance. If it is a harbinger of things to come, this could be an interesting winter indeed. If it is one of a kind, snow lovers throughout Southwest Virginia will look on it for months to come and wonder, "What if ..."

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Kevin Myatt works on the copy desk for The Roanoke Times and is its principal weather geek, writing a weekly weather column and advising the newsroom on weather topics. He helps guide students on a storm chasing trip to the central U.S. each May and was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States."

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