By Doug Schneider (@Race4caster)

The Bathurst 12 Hour at the Mount Panorama Circuit has become one of my favorite races of the year. There's always great action, and Mount Panorama is an amazing circuit. Plus, forecasting for Australia is a big change for me, as everything is backward - winds around low pressure spin clockwise, and counter-clockwise around high pressure. South winds bring colder air, and north winds bring warmer air. It has taken me a few days of looking at weather maps of Australia to get my bearings. 

The general weather pattern for next weekend will be a large high pressure area off the southern coast of Australia, slowly drifting east. This is going to keep the weather dry for the Bathurst 12 Hour. There will be a fairly strong low pressure system off the east coast on Friday, and as high pressure builds in from the west, the pressure difference between these systems will bring breezy conditions on Friday, with a southeasterly wind bringing relatively cool temperatures in the mid 70s (mid 20s Celsius). Warmer temperatures closer to normal can be expected Saturday, with highs in the lower 80s (upper 20s Celsius). Normal high temperatures for Bathurst in February are in the lower 80s. The warming trend will continue into Sunday, with highs in the mid 80s. There may be a few more clouds around on Sunday, but no rain is expected.

Bathurst is 16 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (and 11 hours ahead of GMT in London). So for those of us in EST, the race starts at 1:45 pm Saturday, and ends at 1:45 am Sunday.

By Doug Schneider (@Race4caster)

As we've been expecting for the past week, the weather looks great for the entire 24 Hours of Daytona. There will be plenty of sunshine today, so if you're at the track, use sunscreen. Temperatures will drop to around 50 degrees tonight, and there may be a little fog in the morning, but it doesn't look like a major issue at this point. Some clouds will be moving in on Sunday, but temperatures will be warming into the lower 70s by the end of the race.

Daytona International Speedway as their own weather sensor at the track, and you can see what the current conditions are at this link.

By Doug Schneider (@Race4caster)

Yesterday saw 2.31 inches of rain fall at the Daytona airport right beside the Speedway from 2 am through 1 pm. Fortunately, there was only some very light rain around through the afternoon (only a trace was recorded from 1 pm to 8 pm), and the Continental Tire practice sessions were relatively undisturbed. So while my forecast of 100% chance of rain verified, it was timed just right to have a minimal impact on the on-track activity. Temperatures yesterday stayed cool, with the high only reaching 65 degrees, due to a front that remained just south of Daytona all day (and ruining my temperature forecast). 

That front is sitting pretty much right over Daytona this morning. Most of the rain is well to the south early this morning, but that will change later this morning. A low pressure center will ride northeast along that front, and cross central Florida from late morning through mid afternoon. That appears to be the timing for the best rain chances and heaviest rain amounts at the track today. Some pockets of heavy rain and a few thunderstorms will be possible. The CTSC and IWSC practice sessions will be threatened, but that will depend on the timing of the heavier showers or storms. CTSC qualifying at 2:10 pm looks very wet as well. The amount of rainfall through the day is expected to be between 0.5 and 1 inch, but again, it will vary greatly based on where the heavier showers track. 

Will rain threaten the IWSC qualifying at 4:25 pm? It's going to be close. Here's a model simulated radar image at 4 pm this afternoon (Daytona is near the red dot):

I wouldn't take that model simulated radar as the absolute truth, but it does tell me that the rain will likely be tapering off around the time that qualifying begins, perhaps in a window between 3 pm and 5 pm. There are some other models that show similar timing to this one. Yesterday, I mentioned how one model (the NAM) was much slower to end the rain. Fortunately, it has straightened up and come into better agreement with the rest of the models.

There are no big changes to the forecast for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as the weather continues to look dry and cool. Bring a jacket on Friday, as it will be breezy with a northwest wind blowing 10 to 15 mph, and highs will be in the mid 60s. Race day will start off cold in the lower 40s, but with plenty of sunshine, highs will reach the upper 60s. The entire race continues to look dry, and by the end of the race, temperatures will be near 70 degrees.

Our live radar link at the top of the page will be continuously updating all day to help you keep track of the rain today. It will also display any lightning strikes that may occur. I'll most likely be watching qualifying along with the radar, and I'll do my best to have weather updates on Twitter this afternoon - follow @Race4caster.

By Doug Schneider (@Race4caster)

It's going to be a soggy opening day for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The radar this morning shows rain blanketing pretty much the entire Florida peninsula. A front is located from Tampa to Orlando to Daytona, which will remain nearly stationary in that location through the day. It will be the focus for showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms all day. Some of the showers will produce heavy rainfall, and the total rainfall amount through today and tonight is expected to be between 1.5 and 2 inches. The Storm Prediction Center is also calling for a marginal threat of severe thunderstorms today in central Florida. I don't expect this to be a problem, but it's something to be aware of if you're at the track today. Although the Ferrari Challenge and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge are scheduled to practice today, I strongly doubt that there will be any on-track activity today. We'll have our live radar feed running today - follow the Radar link at the top of the website.

The low pressure center will track east across central Florida on Thursday, followed by a cold front. This will keep rain showers and possibly a few thunderstorms going through the day, although the rain amounts on Thursday will likely be less than Wednesday, probably around a quarter inch or so. But the question remains, when will the rain end? The majority of the models show a cold front moving through the Daytona area in the afternoon, and dry air builds in shortly after, ending any chance of rain in the evening. There is one model (the NAM) that is much slower with the cold front and drier air, keeping rain over Daytona until early Friday morning. I favor the faster model consensus, and I think the majority of the rain on Thursday will come in the morning, with decreasing rain chances through the afternoon, and any rain chance ending before midnight. This is what I've been forecasting since Sunday, and I'm going to stick with it. While there will be a chance of rain all day on Thursday, the afternoon qualifying sessions are more likely to take place than the morning practice sessions. 

Here is the forecast rainfall amount map from the National Weather Service for Wednesday through Thursday night (again, the majority of this rain will fall on Wednesday). That's about 2 inches at Daytona (the white dot).

The weather for the rest of the event looks great, with plenty of sunshine each day. High pressure will move from west to east across the Gulf of Mexico and Florida peninsula Friday through Sunday. A northwest wind of 10-15 mph will keep temperatures rather chilly, with highs Friday in the lower 60s, and lows Saturday morning in the lower 40s. Temperatures will continue to trend upward for Saturday (upper 60s) and Sunday (lower 70s) as the high pressure center moves east of Florida. I don't think you could ask for better weather from start to finish for a 24 hour race (except perhaps for some warmer temperatures, if you like that sort of thing).

The forecast graphic in Celsius:

By Doug Schneider (@Race4caster)

A new feature this year for us will be video weather briefings for the big events. Here's the briefing for the Rolex 24:

Here's the latest updated forecast graphic:

And the forecast in Celsius and kilometers per hour, for our international readers: