By Scott Martin - @RaceWx4You
Saturday's Racing Weather...
Much of the day at Barber Motorsports Park should remain dry, which is the good news, but rain chances will have to be increased for earlier in the afternoon at the track. A mass of shower and storms that is located over the northwest corner of the state will be slowly pushing across Central Alabama, and will be diminishing some as it makes its way eastward. We may have scattered showers and storms approaching the track at or just after the noon hour, but this will not be the cold front that will be bringing the line of possibly strong storms to the area. Those storms should not arrive at the track until after the 6PM hour. We'll have mostly clear skies to start, but we'll have increasing clouds as the first batch of rain approaches, and will be mostly cloudy afterwords. The afternoon high will be around 82. Winds will be out of the southwest at 6-12 MPH. The odds for rain at the track during the afternoon will be about 1 in 3, or 30%.
For the fans and teams that are staying overnight at the track, the line of storms that will be pushing through this evening could have some strong to marginally severe storms embedded in the line. The main threats will be from gusty winds and some hail, and even though the tornado threat is very low, it is still not zero. Be sure to have a way to receive weather alerts either on a NOAA Weather Radio or on a smart phone.
Sunday - Race Day Weather
We will start off the day with some lingering showers after the passage of the front, but these should move out of the area before 10AM. Skies will stay generally cloudy throughout the remainder of the day, and we could have a stray light shower or a few sprinkles during the afternoon. I do not believe that these showers will be heavy enough to disrupt the on-track activities. Rain tires may be needed during the race, but the odds of that happening will be very low. Sunday will be much cooler, and winds will be out of the northwest at 5-10 MPH. The afternoon high will be around 65 degrees. The chance of rain at the track during the morning will be 40%, but dropping to about 20% through the rest of the day.
Much of the day at Barber Motorsports Park should remain dry, which is the good news, but rain chances will have to be increased for earlier in the afternoon at the track. A mass of shower and storms that is located over the northwest corner of the state will be slowly pushing across Central Alabama, and will be diminishing some as it makes its way eastward. We may have scattered showers and storms approaching the track at or just after the noon hour, but this will not be the cold front that will be bringing the line of possibly strong storms to the area. Those storms should not arrive at the track until after the 6PM hour. We'll have mostly clear skies to start, but we'll have increasing clouds as the first batch of rain approaches, and will be mostly cloudy afterwords. The afternoon high will be around 82. Winds will be out of the southwest at 6-12 MPH. The odds for rain at the track during the afternoon will be about 1 in 3, or 30%.
For the fans and teams that are staying overnight at the track, the line of storms that will be pushing through this evening could have some strong to marginally severe storms embedded in the line. The main threats will be from gusty winds and some hail, and even though the tornado threat is very low, it is still not zero. Be sure to have a way to receive weather alerts either on a NOAA Weather Radio or on a smart phone.
Sunday - Race Day Weather
We will start off the day with some lingering showers after the passage of the front, but these should move out of the area before 10AM. Skies will stay generally cloudy throughout the remainder of the day, and we could have a stray light shower or a few sprinkles during the afternoon. I do not believe that these showers will be heavy enough to disrupt the on-track activities. Rain tires may be needed during the race, but the odds of that happening will be very low. Sunday will be much cooler, and winds will be out of the northwest at 5-10 MPH. The afternoon high will be around 65 degrees. The chance of rain at the track during the morning will be 40%, but dropping to about 20% through the rest of the day.
