By Doug Schneider
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At Racecast Weather, we're excited to be expanding to cover the weather for WEC races this year. I've done forecasts for Le Mans the past few years, but now we'll have forecasts for the entire WEC schedule. Our coverage will be a bit different from our races in North America. Normally we have the radar link at the top of our website to provide a track-centered view of rain at the track, but since we don't have a source for international radars, we will not be able to provide that except for the COTA race.
The season opener at Silverstone should have pretty decent weather overall. The main theme through the event will be the chilly temperatures. But at least there won't be sleet and snow like last year!
Thursday will feature a high pressure ridge to the south of England. The west to northwest flow on the north side of this ridge will keep cloudy and cool conditions across the region Thursday and Friday - pretty typical weather for England. There could be a few spots of sunshine now and then on Friday, but most of the day will be cloudy. Winds will be picking up on Friday as a low pressure system starts to get closer.
On Saturday as trough of low pressure is expected to move across the region. This feature will bring a chance of light rain showers during the day. The good news is that there isn't a lot of moisture in the atmosphere for it to work with, so any rain that does occur should be pretty light. If rain does occur at the track, I expect that it will only be a few hundredths of an inch, or a couple of millimeters. The impact to the on track action should be low. It will be breezy as a cold front moves through, with northwest winds of 10-20 mph (16-32 km/h), and higher gusts possible.
High pressure will start to build over the country from the west again on Sunday, which should provide the best weather day of the weekend. Sunday should see the most sunshine of any day, but a northwest wind and a cold air mass building in will hold temperatures in the 50s (low teens in Celsius).
Check back here through the week for forecast updates, and follow me on Twitter - @Race4caster.
The season opener at Silverstone should have pretty decent weather overall. The main theme through the event will be the chilly temperatures. But at least there won't be sleet and snow like last year!
Thursday will feature a high pressure ridge to the south of England. The west to northwest flow on the north side of this ridge will keep cloudy and cool conditions across the region Thursday and Friday - pretty typical weather for England. There could be a few spots of sunshine now and then on Friday, but most of the day will be cloudy. Winds will be picking up on Friday as a low pressure system starts to get closer.
On Saturday as trough of low pressure is expected to move across the region. This feature will bring a chance of light rain showers during the day. The good news is that there isn't a lot of moisture in the atmosphere for it to work with, so any rain that does occur should be pretty light. If rain does occur at the track, I expect that it will only be a few hundredths of an inch, or a couple of millimeters. The impact to the on track action should be low. It will be breezy as a cold front moves through, with northwest winds of 10-20 mph (16-32 km/h), and higher gusts possible.
High pressure will start to build over the country from the west again on Sunday, which should provide the best weather day of the weekend. Sunday should see the most sunshine of any day, but a northwest wind and a cold air mass building in will hold temperatures in the 50s (low teens in Celsius).
Check back here through the week for forecast updates, and follow me on Twitter - @Race4caster.
