By: Harris Cooley

We are back folks! We kick off the the 2024 Formula One season with beautiful weather as High pressure moves through during the first practice session. Northerly moderate winds are expected for Friday which could cause some issues with grip on the track as well as sandy conditions. Wind speeds die down Saturday and Sunday with clear skies and mild temps. These conditions should be favorable for the teams' first race of the season.

By Doug Schneider

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Not much has changed in the expected weather for the Bathurst 12 Hour with today's forecast update. Scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms will be in the area on Friday, with about a 50% chance of a storm moving over Mount Panorama. The chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms continues into Saturday and Sunday, with very little change in the pattern. There is a little less moisture and instability, so the chance of a storm at the circuit those days is about 30%. Lightning and a brief downpours will be the main impacts with any storms that move over the circuit.

I plan to have a forecast with the detailed weather conditions during the race posted before the race starts. Be sure to follow our X account for radar updates during the race - @RacecastWx.

By Doug Schneider

​Click images to enlarge

Afternoon showers and thunderstorms could affect practice sessions on Friday at Mount Panorama, but the chance of impacts during the race is low. 

The pattern across Australia later this week will feature a high pressure ridge near the southern coast of Australia, across Tanzania to New Zealand. This will produce an easterly flow from the ocean to inland New South Wales. Moisture from the ocean running into the Blue Mountains will result in some afternoon showers and thunderstorms popping up each day, tracking west toward Bathurst. Friday is expected to have scattered coverage of showers and storms around Bathurst, due to instability being a little higher that day. Saturday and Sunday will have less coverage due to less instability, with only isolated showers and storms in the area. Temperatures will be warm each day, in the 80s F and upper 20s to near 30 C. 

For those of you in the United States, the Eastern Time Zone is 16 hours behind the time in Bathurst. The race is scheduled to begin at 5:45 AM Sunday Australian Eastern Daylight Time, which is 1:45 PM Saturday in the Eastern Standard Time zone.