Forecast for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour

By Doug Schneider

After a spectacular Rolex 24, sports car fans don't have to wait long for the next major race on the calendar, the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour at the beautiful Mount Panorama Circuit this weekend.

The weather pattern across southeast Australia will feature high pressure off the coast, and low pressure over central Australia, with a trough of low pressure extending into New South Wales. The position of this trough will be the main factor in the chance of showers and thunderstorms at Mount Panorama. Here's what the pattern is expected to look like around midday on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, according to one model (the image is moisture, the arrows are winds at the surface, and the lines are pressure contours):

Through the weekend, the trough moves from north of Mount Panorama to the south. It is close enough each day to give at least a small chance of showers and thunderstorms each day, but Saturday appears to have the best chance as the trough will be closest to the track on that day. Rain could be heavy if a storm directly hits the track, but since coverage of storms is expected to be scattered, I have the impact at low right now. As the trough moves south of the track, it will also be getting hotter, with high temperatures reaching the upper 90s on Sunday.

Bathurst, Australia is 16 hours ahead of EST, and 11 hours ahead of GMT. The race starts at 5:45 am local time Sunday, which is 6:45 pm Saturday GMT, and 1:45 pm Saturday EST. 

Here's the forecast in Celsius and km/h: