Boston
College Forecast:
“Maryland’s first Conference Game above the Mason Dixon Line”
Chief D-7 Meteorologist Bob Wevodau
THE INTRO:
Cheers! The Terps are heading North for this huge match up and regardless of what goes on against Miami this weekend, this one is still going to matter. There are 3 teams that can represent the Atlantic Division in the Conference Championship, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Maryland. By simply knowing that fact even the most ignorant of sports fans can tell how important this match up is. If the Terps can hold off the Hurricane’s this Saturday then this will be do or die for Boston College. The Eagles are already sitting with 2 conference loses and 3 will most likely do them in. Maryland can take a huge step towards securing their playoff like match up with Wake, if they can find a way to win in Chestnut Hill.
And at this point who’s to say this Terps team can’t do it? Not me, I have been extremely conservative all year long in my expectations, but if I have learned anything these past few weeks, it’s that you can’t put a ceiling on this team. The young Terps just keep finding ways to win. And though on paper this one looks to favor the Eagles, I am not about to buy into that crap. And more importantly than that, neither are the Terrapins.
Anyway lets get on to the weather:
THE HISTORY:
This is it, my big forecast. I have already done just about every town in the ACC (figuring UNC, NCSt, Wake, Duke are all the same town weather wise), and lord knows I haven’t had to a chance to do a bowl forecast yet, so this is the one I’ve had circled on my forecasting calendar for weeks, so lets hope I don’t disappoint. But if I do, just remember road games are tough for weathermen too, especially considering I’ve spent about 60 hours of my life in Boston so far (we told everyone we were part of a basketball exhibition group called the Louisiana Firecrackers, as you can imagine Tyson had a part in it).
The average high in Boston, MA for November 18th is 51 F° and the average low is 37 F°. The record high for this date in Boston is 73 which occurred in 1953 (yeah Terps!), and the record low was 14 which occurred in 1936. Let’s face it, we aren’t the warmest of states, but if it’s 14 degrees out, you have got to think that favors the Eagles over us. In fact I’m not even sure I’ll make it into the game if that happens, so lets keep our fingers crossed.
THE FORECAST:
According to the Almanac things are looking (shocker alert) ….cold. The official Almanac forecast is for windy, and cold weather to settle in over the northeast. And as mentioned before I really don’t have enough knowledge on New England weather to over rule that call. So we are going to stick with it. Here is what I’m calling for:
The forecast for the November 18, 2006 “Ground the Eagles” game is for pretty cold weather (we are a long way from the William and Mary forecast that’s for sure). I am thinking we won’t see temperatures get out of the 40’s. To make matters even more difficult, once again ESPN is not announcing game time until Sunday. So if we are a 7:00 or 7:45 kickoff you REALLY won’t see any 50 degree readings. We’ll split the difference and just forecast the late afternoon temp which I feel will reach 45, as the sun sets (and according to the weather history for Boston, it sets quick) we will see temperatures drop into the 30’s. Unfortunately this weather is going to favor the cool season ready Eagles. The almanac is calling for windy, and I’ll go with that. We should see gusty conditions all day with winds between 5-15 mph. The good news is that wool hats are hard to have blown off. So lets go on record with High of 45, low of 29 and lots of wind.
For the first time this year, there will be a wind chill advisory, so bundle up. If you think the FSU game was cold, well then you’re in for a treat in Boston.
The game day sunrise in Boston, MA on November 18th is for 6:38 am. The sunset is scheduled for 4:19 pm (THAT IS NOT A TYPO 4:19 for GOD’S SAKE). As for the moon, it will be up around 4:21 AM, and will set around 2:51 pm (just before the sun!). It will be a wanning crescent with 6% illumination.
THE SNOW REPORT:
Kind
of disappointed. I was not able to find any snowfall records for Boston on this
day. Very disappointing. Anyway, I’ll use the record low for a guide.
Considering that it is very common to see below freezing on this day in
Massachuttes, and taking into consideration how much precipitation Boston gets,
we are going to go with a 8% chance of seeing snow for this game. Now that
doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, it is by far the greatest chance we
have had yet. And plus it isn’t like I would ever predict a 100% or 50 % chance
of snow a whole 10 days before a game, that’s just crazy. So bring you mittens
and keep an eye out for any last minute updates. You know what they say about
New England weather, if you don’t like it, just wait a few minutes.
Look here for further updates, as we get closer to game day.
THE CHARITY PLEA:
Don’t forget to save your loose
change and stray bills to donate to our “Save the Terrapin” fund. Remember with
every $15 we raise we can save/adopt one terrapin through the Terrapin
Institute, which will be saved (by being tagged) from commercial harvest. All
“STT” progress will be monitored on the website.
“Save us!”
I guess I should probably move this out of the forecast section and leave it in the Tailgate recaps, but I guess it isn’t bad to remind everyone again. After the FSU Game we now have $182, which means to date we have saved 12 terrapins. We have reached our goal, but there are still more that can be saved. Just this week the Sun reported 3x as many watermen trapping Terrapin this fall as there were last year. So don’t stop giving!
Look here for further updates, as we get closer to game day.
THE X-FACTOR:
Just to show you some extremes that could happen and have happened on this particular date in weather history.
- 1873 - A severe storm raged from Georgia to Nova Scotia causing great losses to fishing fleets along the coast. In Maine, the barometric pressure reached 28.49 inches at Portland. (David Ludlum)
- 1955 - An early season cold snap finally came to an end. Helena, MT, experienced 138 consecutive hours of subzero temperatures, including a reading of 29 below zero, which surpassed by seven degrees their previous record for the month of November. Missoula MT broke their November record by 12 degrees with a reading of 23 below zero, and Salt Lake City UT smashed their previous November record of zero with a reading of 14 below. Heavy snow in the Great Basin closed Donner Pass CA, and total crop damage from the cold wave amounted to eleven million dollars. (David Ludlum)
- 1957 - A tornado, 100 yards in width, travelled a nearly "straight as an arrow" 27-mile path from near Rosa AL to near Albertville AL, killing three persons. A home in the Susan Moore community in Blount County was picked up and dropped 500 feet away killing one person. (The Weather Channel)
- 1986 - The first of two successive snowstorms struck the northeastern U.S. The storm produced up to 20 inches of snow in southern New Hampshire. Two days later a second storm produced up to 30 inches of snow in northern Maine. (Storm Data)
- 1987 - It was a windy day across parts of the nation. Gale force winds whipped the Great Lakes Region. Winds gusting to 80 mph in western New York State damaged buildings and flipped over flatbed trailers at Churchville. In Montana, high winds in the Upper Yellowstone Valley gusted to 64 mph at Livingston. Strong Santa Ana winds buffeted the mountains and valleys of southern California. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
- 1988 - Thunderstorms developing along a warm front drenched Little Rock AR with 7.01 inches of rain, smashing their previous record for the date of 1.91 inches. (The National Weather Summary)
- 1989 - A second surge of arctic air brought record cold to parts of the north central U.S. Eleven cities in the Upper Midwest reported record low temperatures for the date, including Rochester MN with a reading of 4 degrees below zero. Strong winds ushering the arctic air into the north central U.S. produced squalls in the Lower Great Lakes Region. Snowfall totals in northern Ohio ranged up to twenty inches in Ashatabula County and Geauga County. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
***This is a disclaimer to remove all responsibility on myself if this forecast is wrong. Being that it is very difficult to predict the weather greater than 48 hours in advance, the odds of needing this disclaimer are about 100%. However I do believe this forecast will be pretty close to what we can actually look to expect.