By Doug Schneider
Click images to enlarge
Click images to enlarge
 |  |
A couple of weather systems will affect eastern Belgium over the course of the weekend, which will likely result in some wet periods, mainly during the 24 Hour race.
On Thursday, a cold front will be moving into the region from the northwest. Warm, moist air ahead of this front will allow for some scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop Thursday afternoon around Spa-Francorchamps. The front will move through the area Thursday night, and settle south of the area across France and Luxembourg. A dry air mass will build into Belgium behind the front on Friday, making for a very nice day with plenty of sunshine and comfortable temperatures.
The front to the south will stall and be the focus for a developing low pressure system over France on Saturday. As this low develops in western France, it will spread increasing clouds and moisture into Belgium through the day. A few showers are possible late in the day, but the bulk of rainfall with this system will come in the overnight hours into Sunday as it tracks east along the stalled front. Exact timing is uncertain this far out, but should come into better focus later in the week, so stay tuned for updates. I do think that it is likely that there will be rain during the race, and potentially an isolated thunderstorm. How much rain will fall is also unclear at this time, but it could be in the range of 5 mm to 20 mm, or 0.15 to 0.75 inches. That's a wide range, but I should be able to narrow that down with later forecast updates.
On Thursday, a cold front will be moving into the region from the northwest. Warm, moist air ahead of this front will allow for some scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop Thursday afternoon around Spa-Francorchamps. The front will move through the area Thursday night, and settle south of the area across France and Luxembourg. A dry air mass will build into Belgium behind the front on Friday, making for a very nice day with plenty of sunshine and comfortable temperatures.
The front to the south will stall and be the focus for a developing low pressure system over France on Saturday. As this low develops in western France, it will spread increasing clouds and moisture into Belgium through the day. A few showers are possible late in the day, but the bulk of rainfall with this system will come in the overnight hours into Sunday as it tracks east along the stalled front. Exact timing is uncertain this far out, but should come into better focus later in the week, so stay tuned for updates. I do think that it is likely that there will be rain during the race, and potentially an isolated thunderstorm. How much rain will fall is also unclear at this time, but it could be in the range of 5 mm to 20 mm, or 0.15 to 0.75 inches. That's a wide range, but I should be able to narrow that down with later forecast updates.
