Clemson
Forecast:
“Time to spay and neuter!”
Chief D-7 Meteorologist Bob Wevodau
THE INTRO:
When the schedule came out I knew this match up was going to be tough. And to think it would fall right in the middle of the Florida State and Miami games. But oh how things have changed in the ACC. After watching both the Florida schools struggle it appears that this Clemson game is going to be our toughest match up of the year. I think we can beat Clemson, but I am worried that we will be playing down in South Carolina, and if I had to pick one Conference game that I am not looking forward to playing, this would be it.
Granted, anything can happen in College Football and we are not out of it by any means. In fact if we can beat FSU this weekend (which a lot of lesser teams are showing is quite possible) well then this very well could be for a share of first place in the ACC. In which case this game could have BCS implications, and though that may be a stretch and involves us first beating FSU, isn’t it nice to be able to say that about a game being played by our Terps in November!! Also if we do beat the Noles, we would be sitting at 6-2 and very well could be looking at a battle between 2 ranked opponents (well maybe). Regardless there is one thing that I can guarantee will happen. Weather! And that’s something that is even more unpredictable than this years ACC, but I’ll give it a go:
THE HISTORY:
The average high in Clemson, SC for November 4th is 69 F° and the average low is 44 F°. At this time of year, the highs down south are a little warmer than in Maryland, but interestingly the night time lows in Clemson are slightly lower than our current low, which is probably due to elevation. The record high for this date in Clemson is 85 which occurred in 1946, and the record low was 25 which occurred in 1937.
THE FORECAST:
According to the Almanac the forecast looks a little “unsettled” and mild, so we have that mild thing going for us. I can only imagine the unsettled means a chance of showers or thunderstorms. Either way it doesn’t look too bad. After all it could be cold and unsettled. So let’s give the forecast a whirl:
The forecast for the November 4, 2006 “Turtles vs. Cats game” (which sounds like a bad day in the Wevodau living room!) is for decent football weather. It doesn’t look great, but at the same time could be worse. The milder weather will probably put the high in the mid to upper 70’s which is awesome for this time of year, but will also result in spotty showers and a possible thunderstorm. As the sun goes down we will be looking at lows in the mid to upper 50’s. We’ll officially go on record (for now) as saying a high of 76 and a low or 54, with a chance of showers all day long. We don’t have a kick off time yet (though I hear it could come this afternoon) but if you don’t realize that it will be warmer for a day game than it would for a night game, you probably weren’t able to find your way to Death Valley anyway.
Looking at our remaining schedule this could be the last nice weather game of the year. So if you make the trip enjoy the warmth, since you probably won’t enjoy the showers. There is a code very light yellow for the sunburn out look (if the sun comes through), and the poncho warning is orange. You may not need it, but you probably will at some point (hows that for covering your ass!).
This is our first game since daylight savings time ended so look for even a 3:30 start to end under the lights. The game day sunrise in Clemson, SC on November 4th is for 6:54 am. The sunset is scheduled for a soul crushing 5:34 pm set. As for the moon, oh it will be waxing all right, and it will be illuminated 98% (waxing Gibbous if you must know). The moon will rise at some point and set several hours later (can’t make out my chicken scratch notes).
THE SNOW REPORT:
Hmm, I didn’t think there would be much to write in this section for the Clemson game and unfortunately the website doesn’t give a snow history for cities that aren’t named “Washington DC”, but judging by the record low of 25, you have got to think snow on this date, no matter how unlikely, is certainly possible. But using the common sense of knowing at what latitude Clemson lies, and realizing that we hardly ever get snow this early even up in Maryland, I am going to put the chance of snow at 1% again. I just don’t see it happening. I must admit, if upstate South Carolina is ever going to get a freak early season blizzard, this would probably be the best possible date for it to happen.
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!”
After the NC State game our total has now climbed to $140, which means to date we have saved 9 terrapins. We are just $10 shy of what we thought was a pipe dream of $150, but I am almost certain we will smash that mark on October 28th. But just because it appears we are going to reach our goal, that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to save more Terrapins. 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.
- 1927 - A great Vermont flood occurred. Tropical rains deluged the Green Mountain area of Vermont causing the worst flood in the history of the state. Torrential rains, up to 15 inches in the higher elevations, sent streams on a rampage devastating the Winooski Valley. Flooding claimed 200 lives and caused 40 million dollars damage. The town of Vernon reported 84 deaths. Flooding left up to eight to ten feet of water in downtown Montpelier VT. (2nd-4th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
- 1985 - A super wet Gulf storm dumped upwards of fifteen inches of rain in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia causing devastating damage and claiming forty lives. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
- 1987 - Thirty-two cities in the eastern and south central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Highs of 74 degrees at Portland ME and 86 degrees at Fort Smith AR equalled November records. It was the fourth day of record warmth for Beckley WV, Memphis TN and Paducah KY. A cold front ushered much colder air into the north central U.S. Gale force winds lashed all five Great Lakes. (The National Weather Summary)
- 1988 - Thunderstorms developing ahead of a fast moving cold front produced severe weather over the Tennessee Valley and the Central Gulf Coast States during the afternoon and evening hours, and into the next morning. Thunderstorms spawned nineteen tornadoes, including eleven in Mississippi. The last of the nineteen tornadoes killed a woman in her mobile home in Lee FL. A tornado in Culbert AL injured sixteen people, and caused two million dollars damage. Thunderstorms also produced baseball size hail in Alabama. Unseasonably hot air prevailed south of the cold front. McAllen TX was the hot spot in the nation with a high of 102 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
- 1989 - Snow and high winds plagued parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Winds gusted to 71 mph near Wheatland WY, and reached 80 mph west of Fort Collins CO. Up to five inches of snow blanketed Yellowstone Park WY closing many roads. Snow also blanketed northern Minnesota, with seven inches reported at Baudette. (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.