Home
Up

Florida International Forecast:                                                                                        

“If we put up two reds flag with a black square for a Hurricane Warning, what do they do in South Florida for a Golden Panther Warning?”

                                                            -Bob W.

THE INTRO: 

Week 2 is upon us, which brings us to our first road trip of the year.  I can honestly say that I do not know of anyone making this pilgrimage down to Miami for this match up, but hopefully there will be enough local alumni to make some noise in the stands.  And though it seems odd that on week two we are traveling a 1,000 miles away to play some school which just recently became D-I, I think it is a good thing.  Most of the major programs wouldn’t touch this game with a 10 foot pole, but the Terps aren’t afraid, and good for us.  Throw these guys a bone for God’s sake.  When doing research for this column I found the FIU athletic page, and on the front of the page was a poll asking which football game you were most excited to see this year, and of all the home teams, Maryland was pretty much the only major school on the list.  So they are excited to have us, and I’m excited we don’t duck non BCS road games like everyone else.

All traveling and scheduling aside, let’s look at this for what it is.  This is the live scrimmage for the WVU game the following week.  Let’s hope our players don’t look at it that way (remember these guys from last year??).  But whoever our QB is, and as of today we still don’t know, is going to have to shine in this one.  I’m going out on a limb and saying that we won the Villanova game, and our starting QB did nothing to jeopardize his job, and if that is the case then they are going to need this as a further confidence booster going into the Thursday Night ESPN Primetime game.  This game can’t be a mail in effort (or a loss).  This has to be a springboard and that is why this is so important.  By the way to the powers at be, please televise this, at least in Maryland.

Anyway, on to the weather.  As I’m writing this Hurricane Dean is on the verge of becoming a Category 5 storm and is taking aim on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.  Though I don’t know anyone in Jamaica (except maybe some of the hotel staff in Montego Bay), and I don’t know anyone in Mexico, this is still very concerning, and it serves as a reminder that we can not take any football game for granted in the Southeast.  Sure this one isn’t going to hit the US, but who’s saying there won’t be one aiming for So. Florida by September 8.

THE HISTORY:

I really got a kick out of doing these for this time of year in Miami.  The average high in Miami, Florida for September 8^th is 90 F° and the average low is 71 F°.  The record high for this date in Miami is 97 F° which occurred in 1987.  The record low is 71 F° which occurred in 1939.

You see this is why people move to Florida, look at the average high, it’s 90.  Meanwhile in Maryland it’s 81, no big deal right?  However, look at the low.  The low for Maryland on this date is 63.  The record low for Miami on this date is 71, and that is the coldest it has ever been in Miami on this date, 7 degrees higher than our AVERAGE low.  And now here is what really irritates me, the Record High in Maryland on this date is 100!  The record for Miami is only 97.  So we basically get the worst of both worlds.  Oddly enough, and I’d like an explanation for this one.  The day we hit 100 in College Park (1939) is also the day Miami had it’s coldest September 8^th  low (1939), how does that happen?    

THE FORECAST:

I’m going to make this forecast based on the idea that there will not be any Hurricanes out there to thrown everything off.  The good news is that the Almanac doesn’t think there will be, but what they are calling for is thunderstorms.  I don’t think we’ll see any down in Miami, but it is always a risky proposition to not count on an afternoon storm in South Florida, but I’m bucking the system:

The forecast for the September 8 “Terps vs. the team that got into the brawl with Miami”  is for nice warm south Florida weather.  Well have a  7pm kickoff time for the game, which puts tailgating at the hottest time of the day.  Look for a high in the upper 80’s during the afternoon, and then gradually cooling down to the low 80’s as we approach kick off.  Again since this is a night game, we won’t really be dealing with the low, but when you have a low in the mid to upper 70’s that really isn’t much of a concern. It should be mostly sunny with some scattered clouds and maybe a breeze in the 5-10 mph zone, but nothing more.  Another beautiful day in Miami (God I hate them!).  So to recap.  I’m going with a high of 89, and a low of 75.  No rain.    

It is kind of contradictory to say no rain and then issue a poncho warning….yet here we are.  There is a code yellow poncho alert for this game.  I’m not predicting rain, but this is traditionally a rather wet day in Miami, plus you have to factor in that you can have a thunderstorm anywhere or anytime down in Florida.  So just to be safe, we’re going with the poncho warning.   

In addition to the code yellow poncho warning, I am also issuing a code red sun burn warning.  Many people don’t realize that the height of the sun plays a major role in sun burn (the more direct angle the light is coming through the atmosphere, the less atmosphere it travels through which means less ozone to block out the rays).  For those who are weak in Geography, Florida is a lot further south than Maryland and a lot warmer too, hence the warning. 

The game day sunrise in Miami, FL on September 8^th  is for 7:04 am.  With the 7:00 PM start, you really won’t have to worry about the sunrise.  The sunset will be around 7:33 PM near the end of the first quarter.  Just like all the old people in Florida the moon will rise at 4:16 AM and then go to bed after the early bird special at 6:01 pm. The moon will be a waning crescent, with just a little sliver showing, I’ll say 10% illumination.     

THE HURRICANE REPORT:

I love the snow report section, but let’s face it.  We don’t need it until maybe middle to late October, and even then it’s a long shot.  So from now on, we are going with the Hurricane report up until Mid October, at which point we’ll switch back to the Snow Report.  Since this game is taking place in Miami during what is supposed to be a pretty active season, I’m going to put the Hurricane meter at 23.  Here is a chart to help explain the ranking:

. 

Look here for further updates, as we get closer to game day.

THE CHARITY PLEA:

As of this date, we still have not agreed on a charity.  More info to follow.  I will keep the turtle picture up, just because it’s a good picture and last years total, so we have something to shot for.

Just a reminder our total raised last year was $300.  

THE X-FACTOR: 

Just to show you some extremes that could happen and have happened on this particular date in weather history. 

• 1886 - The town of Indianola, TX, was completely destroyed by a hurricane, and never rebuilt. (David Ludlum)
• 1910 - The "big blow up" of forest fires finally came to an end in Idaho. A record dry August fueled 1736 fires which burned three million acres destroying six billion board feet of timber. The fires claimed the lives of 85 persons, 78 of which were fire fighters, and consumed the entire town of Wallace. The smoke spread a third of the way around the world producing some dark days in the U.S. and Canada. The forest fires prompted federal fire protection laws. (David Ludlum)
• 1987 - Half a dozen cities in the Central Plains Region reported record high temperatures for the date, including Pueblo CO with a reading of 102 degrees, and Goodland KS with a high of 104 degrees. Hill City KS reached 106 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
• 1988 - Sheridan, WY, reported a record hot temperature reading of 100 degrees. Evening thunderstorms produced golf ball size hail near Fortuna ND, and wind gusts to 70 mph near Webster SD. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1989 - Early morning thunderstorms produced heavy rain in southeast Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma, with up to six inches reported around Tulsa OK. Some roads in the Tulsa area were closed by water 10 to 12 feet deep. Evening thunderstorms produced severe weather in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Thunderstorms produced winds gusts to 75 mph in Major County OK, and hail two inches in diameter at Jennings KS. (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.