Great Clips 300

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
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Atlanta, GA

SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5	SUN Sept 5

Sunshine & clouds	Variably cloudy, chc. of showers and storms late in the day.	Showers and storms possible
High: 92	High: 87 Low: 65	Race Temp: 88

FORECAST DISCUSSION SATURDAY NOON EDT:

New forecast model data is in and it doesn’t look good. Here is the information I am looking at for 8pm EDT Sunday evening. Atlanta Motor Speedway is Click for bigger image.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words and the two above images scream a bunch of words not appropriate for this blog. The time is for 8pm EDT and as you can see south of Atlanta there is a lot of color. That means the models are coming together more and showing a scenario that NASCAR fans don’t want to see.

I don’t want a wash out and I wish I had better news to share. This is not looking good and if the race were to get washed out and moved to Monday, the forecast then doesn’t look much better. I will continue to keep you updated.

SATURDAY:
1:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Final Practice – Partly sunny – temp: 88
3:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Qualifying – Partly sunny – temp: 91
5:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Qualifying – Partly sunny – temp: 92
7:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Race – Patchy clouds – temp: 85

SUNDAY:
7:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Race – Showers and storms becoming likely through the evening– temp: 83

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Weather Forecast: I Hate Forecasts Like These

8 months ago

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5	SUN Sept 5

Sunshine & clouds	Variably cloudy, chc. of showers and storms late in the day.	Showers and storms possible
High: 92	High: 87 Low: 65	Race Temp: 88

FORECAST DISCUSSION SATURDAY 6:00 AM EDT:

Weather for Atlanta over the next 24 to 36 hours actually looks pretty good. Saturday looks great as high pressure remains in control despite having tropical storm Lee along the central Gulf Coast. Highs on Saturday should be in the low 90s with mostly to partly sunny skies.

Sunday is the day of great concern and a lot of questions. Moisture associated with tropical storm Lee will interact with a cold front moving into northern Georgia late in the day Sunday and into the evening. This sets the stage for possible shower and storm development. Although my official forecast is calling for shower and storm development, this isn’t a scenario like Watkins Glen where I felt like there was a slam dunk of rain for the race. There are a couple of forecast models that remain slow on bringing the rain to Atlanta Motor Speedway, but still bring the rain late Sunday night.

It’s these forecast I have to separate the NASCAR fan from the meteorologist. I would love nothing else than to say, “The rain is not a worry, we are going to have great weather for the race.” Sadly I would be “wish-casting” and lying to all the other NASCAR fans if I wrote that forecast. I know forecasting rain doesn’t make me a very popular person but I don’t do this to be popular. I do this because I love weather, I love the sport of NASCAR and I want to tell everyone how I see it and give the most accurate forecast I can. Trust me, when I have to forecast rain for a race, I hope I am wrong.

My official forecast for Sunday is that rain is too close not to be a threat Sunday night. Rain needs to be mentioned and I think the likelihood of getting rain for the Sprint Cup race is higher than any of us would like. I wish I could pinpoint rain arrival to the hour and tell you how long it would last and how long any possible windows will be, unfortunately this is not that kind of forecast, and honestly most forecast are not that precise. I also can’t tell any fan what they should do if they have tickets or are thinking about getting tickets for the race. If it were me I’d probably go, take the risk with some of the information I am seeing from some of the computer models. I would also know that I am making a gamble and that if it rained Sunday night delaying, shortening or postponing the race all together, I wouldn’t be surprised because it is there in the forecast.

My plan is to update as often as I can between now and Sunday night. We probably won’t know exactly what the rain will be doing until sometime Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned and I will update as often as I can here and on Twitter. Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone.

SATURDAY:
8:30 a.m EDT
Nationwide Practice – Partly sunny – temp: 72
9:45 a.m EDT
Nationwide Final Practice – Partly sunny – temp: 76
1:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Final Practice – Partly sunny – temp: 88
3:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Qualifying – Partly sunny – temp: 91
5:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Qualifying – Partly sunny – temp: 92
7:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Race – Patchy clouds – temp: 85

SUNDAY:
7:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Race – Showers and storms becoming likely through the evening– temp: 83

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Weather Forecast: Rain Becoming More Likely Sunday

8 months ago

by Brian Neudorff in 2011 NASCAR Season, AdvoCare 500, Atlanta 200, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Camping World Truck Series, Great Clips 300, NASCAR Weather, Nationwide Series, Race Forecast, Race Tracks, Race Weather, Race Weekend, Races, Sprint Cup Series, Tropics

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

FRI Sept 3	SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5	SUN Sept 5

Sunny Skies	Sunny skies	Variably cloudy, chance of storms.	Showers and storms likely.
High: 93	High: 91 Low: 64	High: 87 Low: 65	Race Temp: 88

FORECAST DISCUSSION FRIDAY 11:00 AM EDT:

The forecasts for Friday and Saturday are great for the Camping World Truck and Nationwide series, but Sunday night for the Sprint Cup race is becoming more in doubt. I am not saying it will get washed out but the threat of rain continues to increase as tropical depression thirteen continues to develop into tropical storm Lee along the Louisiana coast. To make this an even more complicated forecast is we have a cold front arriving from the north that is expected to be in north Georgia by Sunday evening. The moisture associated with soon-to-be Lee interacting with the cold front is where I think we will see our showers and storms Sunday night.

My gut tells me that rain will impact Sunday nights race in some way, either shortening it or causing delays or even the possibility of postponing it. To make matters worst, Labor Day Monday is an even wetter forecast than Sunday night. On Twitter, a lot of people ask me, “What’s the likelihood of NASCAR moving the start of the race up to Sunday afternoon?” I honestly don’t know and with the exception of moving the time up a couple of minutes I don’t recall a race being moved up by several hours. Sunday afternoon, still has a chance of showers and storms but rain becomes more likely after 8pm Sunday night.

FRIDAY:
12 p.m EDT
Truck Final Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 84
5 p.m EDT
Truck Qualifying – Mostly sunny – temp: 92
6 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 90
8 p.m EDT
Truck Race – Mostly clear – temp: 85

SATURDAY:
8:30 a.m EDT
Nationwide Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 70
9:45 a.m EDT
Nationwide Final Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 77
1:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Final Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 87
3:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Qualifying – Mostly sunny – temp: 91
5:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Qualifying – Mostly sunny – temp: 91
7:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Race – Patchy clouds – temp: 85

SUNDAY:
7:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Race – Showers and storms becoming likely after 8pm – temp: 83

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Weather Forecast: Rain Threat Increases Sunday with Soon to be Lee

8 months ago

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

FRI Sept 3	SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5	SUN Sept 5

Sunny Skies	Sunny skies	Variably cloudy, chance of storms.	Mostly cloudy, chance of storms.
High: 93 Low: 62	High: 90 Low: 64	High: 87 Low: 65	Race Temp: 88

FORECAST DISCUSSION THURSDAY 12:00 PM EDT:

What looked like a dry forecast for Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway has quickly changed thanks to the development of proto-Lee forming in the Gulf of Mexico. Thunderstorm activity Thursday afternoon continues to look impressive and pressure around this system continues to drop. Possible that if the develop for this continue we could have a tropical depression or tropical storm Lee could form in 24 to 36 hours.

The various computer we use to forecast these system has no idea what to do with this system. The National Hurricane Center is expected to send a recon plane into the system later this afternoon. Once that data is collected and put into the models then we should have a better idea of where and what this storm is doing later tonight. It appears some of the main models we use in weather forecasting are starting to settling on an early idea of this storm making landfall somewhere in either southwest Louisiana or southeast Texas Sunday or Monday…

How does this impact the race in Atlanta this weekend? Tough call at this point, there are too items we are watching. One being proto-Lee in the Gulf the second is a cold front dropping out of Tennessee interacting with the moisture coming out of the Gulf. At this point I can’t tell you with any grain of certainty that it will be dry or it will be wet but now I am airing on the side of caution. Too many players on the field to ignore rain and storms Sunday into Sunday night. A lot will reveal itself as proto-Lee becomes better organized. Also Monday does not look any better it actually looks wetter than Sunday, but I want to caution everyone that this may become a day by day kind of forecast with frequent changes. Stay tuned.

FRIDAY:
10:30 a.m EDT
Truck Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 79
12 p.m EDT
Truck Final Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 84
5 p.m EDT
Truck Qualifying – Mostly sunny – temp: 91
6 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 90
8 p.m EDT
Truck Race – Mostly clear – temp: 85

SATURDAY:
8:30 a.m EDT
Nationwide Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 70
9:45 a.m EDT
Nationwide Final Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 77
1:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Final Practice – Mostly sunny – temp: 87
3:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Qualifying – Mostly sunny – temp: 91
5:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Qualifying – Mostly sunny – temp: 90
7:30 p.m EDT
Nationwide Race – Patchy clouds – temp: 85

SUNDAY:
7:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Race – Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower or storm – temp: 83

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Weather Forecast: Watching a Disturbance in the Gulf

8 months ago

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

THU Sept 2	FRI Sept 3	SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5

Sunny Skie	Sunny Skies	Sunny skies	Variably cloudy, chance of storms.
High: 89 Low: 65	High: 91 Low: 62	High: 90 Low: 64	High: 88 Low: 65

FORECAST DISCUSSION Wednesday 12:00 PM EDT:

Over the next few days and into the start of the weekend, high pressure is going to dominate the forecast for Atlanta Motor Speedway. Temperatures in the upper 80s to near 90 and lots of sunshine.

There currently is a weak disturbance in the Gulf. The National Hurricane center currently gives this system a 10% chance of becoming anything tropical and organized but it could as it heads into the Gulf by the end of the week. Problem here is the computer models diverge in location as we go into the weekend. One model takes this system over towards the western Gulf and Texas, another model brings this system in over the Florida panhandle then through central Georgia and over the the Atlantic coast. Hoping that that scenario is wrong as that could potentially cause problems for the Sunday night race. We will monitor.

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

NASCAR Weather Forecast Atlanta: Perfect Race Weekend

1 year ago

by Brian Neudorff in 2010 NASCAR Season, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Emory Healthcare 500, Great Clips 300, NASCAR Weather, Nationwide Series, Race Forecast, Race Tracks, Race Weather, Races, Sprint Cup Series

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

SAT PM Sept 4	SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5	SUN PM Sept 5

Sunny skies	Clear skies	Sunny skies	Clear Skies
High: 83	Race Temp: 75	High: 85	Race Temp: 73

FORECAST DISCUSSION Friday 3:45 PM EDT:

No problems here weather-wise have a great race weekend and holiday weekend. You can find my detailed forecast for the weekend over at SBNation.com

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

NASCAR Weather Forecast Atlanta: No Earl, No Rain, No Problems

1 year ago

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

FRI Sept 3	SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5	SUN PM Sept 5

Partly sunny isolated t’storm	Mostly sunny skies	Mostly sunny skies	Clear Skies
High: 93 Low: 61	High: 84 Low: 59	High: 85 Low: 52	Temp: 60

FORECAST DISCUSSION Thursday 3:45 PM EDT:

First of all, no Earl will not have any affect on weather in Atlanta. By Saturday morning Earl will be over Nova Scotia. The only slim chance of rain comes Friday afternoon and even that is very low. It will be hot before a cold front moves through for the weekend. This is another picture perfect forecast for Atlanta who in the spring also had some outstanding weather for their NASCAR weekend. Maybe NASCAR needs to schedule more races there. At least they will be dry.

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

NASCAR Weather Forecast Atlanta: Great Looking Weekend

1 year ago

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar

Atlanta, GA

THU Sept 2	FRI Sept 3	SAT Sept 4	SUN Sept 5

Mostly sunny skies	Partly sunny skies	Mostly sunny skies	Mostly sunny skies
High: 91 Low: 60	High: 92 Low: 61	High: 84 Low: 59	High: 87 Low: 54

FORECAST DISCUSSION Wednesday 4:30 PM EDT:

No changes with the forecast except adding some clouds to Friday. All on track actives are on Saturday or Sunday so I see nothing but great weather fore the weekend.

Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN for the latest Weather updates during the race.

NASCAR Weather Forecast Atlanta: No Fault Forecast

1 year ago

Conditions in Atlanta, GA:
Click here for Current Weather Conditions – Look at Doppler Radar | Mobile Friendly Site | Mobile Radar