1-Day Forecast – Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Don’t forget your poncho if you’re heading to the track tomorrow. At this point, the chance of rain looks significantly increased, as the computer models show solid agreement that the atmosphere will be unstable and conducive to pop up showers and thunderstorms.
With this threat of rain, I still stick by my assessment that if it does rain, the track may not be wet for the whole race. These pop up showers will wet the track, but it shouldn’t be sustained through the race. The Firestone Firehawk wet tires will spray the water into the air and help dry out the track.
In terms of the forecasted numbers, I’m bumping up my precipitation chances and lowering my temperature. I think cloudiness either preceding or accompanying the rain will keep temperatures below the 80 degree mark, which I’ve been at or above with all of my forecasts. The numbers I’m presenting is based on the race starting dry, but the actual temperature may be a few degrees cooler if it is raining.
Thus, the official iiMy forecast!
- Approx. Scheduled Green Flag: 2:30 EDT
- Temperature: 78°F
- Dew Point: 72°F
- Relative Humidity: 82%
- Winds: Southeasterly at 7 mph
- Chance of Rain: 75%
- Will we race? It’s a road course, so yes. At this point wet conditions look probable with a temporary stoppage due to heavy downpours a possibility.
Finally, I realized I accidentally called yesterday’s forecast a 3-day forecast, when in reality, it was a 2-day forecast. I’m sure you all are terribly disappointed in me. Wow…at least I spelled out the imaginary contraction y’all. I need to get out of the south.
April 6th, 2008 at 1:47 am
“Off the wall comment alert”
I just wanted to comment on how stoked I am about the fact that the IRL is now THE premier American open wheel series. I’m only 27 years old, which means that I was only 15 years old when the “split” occurred. I grew up in Speedway, and at the time, I wasn’t intelligent enough to realize what was really going on. I was still rooting for Danny Sullivan at that time because he was my childhood hero (not much was going on with his career at that time, but I still wished he would have considered getting into broadcasting) and the only race I cared about was the 500. It’s really a unique feeling as we are watching history unfold before our eyes. I love IndyCars on ovals, and I truly hope that we keep at least half the races ovals. Looking back at history, ovals have always been the staple of a racing series that centers around the Indy 500, and I hope it stays that way. Obviously road and street courses have to be incorporated, because that is what defines “the most diverse schedule in motor sports”. The pinnacle is the Indy 500, and having your face on the Borg Warner trophy is what every race car driver in the world should covet.