By Doug Schneider
The timing has shifting for a cold front that will pass through Indianapolis, with a later timing from my initial forecast. The front is now expected to cross the area on Friday, which will result in numerous showers and thunderstorms Friday afternoon. I expect there will be enough time in the late morning and early afternoon to get practice done (between 11 AM and 1:30 PM), and possibly the Pit Stop Challenge, but conditions do not look favorable for the evening concerts.
Dry air will build in behind the front for Saturday, so I expect that to be a dry day. I can't completely rule out a shower but I think the chance is low enough to have no chance of rain mentioned in the graphic.
On Sunday, an upper level disturbance will move across the area. The timing of this disturbance will be key to any delays to the race, and unfortunately, the timing is not yet clear, as there are some model disagreements. I'm going with an optimistic forecast shown by a few models that has most of the rain mainly occurring in the morning, moving out in the early afternoon. In this scenario, there could be delays to the start of the race due to track drying efforts, but the race should be able to be held in full before dark. The more pessimistic scenario is that the rain arrives in the afternoon, which would push the start back too far to run the entire race on Sunday. If there are storms in the afternoon, the instability could be enough to cause strong to severe storms. Confidence is low on which scenario will occur, so check back here for updates as the timing comes into better focus.
Dry air will build in behind the front for Saturday, so I expect that to be a dry day. I can't completely rule out a shower but I think the chance is low enough to have no chance of rain mentioned in the graphic.
On Sunday, an upper level disturbance will move across the area. The timing of this disturbance will be key to any delays to the race, and unfortunately, the timing is not yet clear, as there are some model disagreements. I'm going with an optimistic forecast shown by a few models that has most of the rain mainly occurring in the morning, moving out in the early afternoon. In this scenario, there could be delays to the start of the race due to track drying efforts, but the race should be able to be held in full before dark. The more pessimistic scenario is that the rain arrives in the afternoon, which would push the start back too far to run the entire race on Sunday. If there are storms in the afternoon, the instability could be enough to cause strong to severe storms. Confidence is low on which scenario will occur, so check back here for updates as the timing comes into better focus.
