Spring
Game Forecast:
“The Steffy-Portis Challenge”
Chief D-7 Meteorologist Bob Wevodau
THE INTRO:
Unbelievable, I’m having a hard time realizing that I am actually doing the Spring Game forecast. How did this sneak up so quick? I’m not really sure actually. Maybe it was all the distractions of actually having a decent basketball team, or maybe it is the fact that it is April 18th and yet it still does not feel anything like spring. But whatever the reason, the Spring game has snuck up on us. Well me at least.
I’m
not going to lie, unless you are betting on the Red-White game, it is really
nothing to get too excited about. I mean it is just a scrimmage. It doesn’t
count for anything, and there are so many players missing for so many reasons
that the team doesn’t even really resemble itself, or what it will eventually
look like in August. But during the long off season when we aren’t blessed with
College Football, the Spring Game serves as a little treat to help get you
through. I guess you could sum up the Red-White game as a bottle of O’Douls.
It won’t get you drunk, but it will remind you of the stuff that does.
This year however, I think the Red-White game is going to be pretty darn important (that’s right, I broke out the “D” word). For the first time in a long time, we don’t really have a definite starting QB coming into the season. The quarterback race is wide open. And though that last sentence normally makes your stomach crawl this year it isn’t the case. Both Jordan Steffy and Josh Portis are both extremely athletic guys who seem like perfect fits in Ralph Freidgen’s offense. So things will be interesting. It will be our first look at both of them running the offense, or what’s left of it anyway. So though I can’t blame any fans for not going to the Red-White game, I can say that if you were EVER going to go to a Red-White game, this would be the one to see.
Anyway, lets get on to the weather:
THE HISTORY:
The average high in College Park, MD for April 28th is 70 F° and the average low is 50 F°. The record high for this date in College Park is 92 F° which occurred in 1957. Right now as I sit here through another cooler than normal day, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll ever see 92 again, yet alone in April. The record low is 33 F° which occurred in 1898, if I had to go with which record will face the biggest threat, I’m going with the low.
THE FORECAST:
According to the Almanac this one is not looking good. However, keep in mind this same almanac said that the weather for the Boston Marathon would be great. The forecast for the weekend of the 28th is “Heavy Rain in Pennsylvania and Maryland” which is pretty weird because the Almanac usually likes to keep things as vague as possible. With the current weather we’ve been having (by the way if the pond in my back yard doesn’t drain soon, I’m buying a jet ski), I think I’m going to run with this forecast, as ominous and risky as that is to do. So with out further adieu:
The
forecast for the April 28, 2007 “Steffy vs. Portis Game” is for crappy
weather. It will be cool all day, overcast with showers. I’m not going to call
for torrential rains, but I am going to call it a day you probably won’t want to
be outside for. For the high I say we’ll top out around 58F, and the low will be
in the mid to upper 40’s, say 47F. I’m guessing the winds will be in the 5-10
mph range with maybe a gust up to 15. I have my anemometer up and running so
now I can keep track of how accurate my wind forecasts are.
There will be a code orange poncho advisory listed for this game.
This just in. The weather page I use to list the Sunrise and Sunset times has made some major changes. The first change is good in that all times are now Eastern Standard instead of Greenwich Mean Time. So my moon forecasts should be a lot more accurate this year. The bad news is that they no longer give the % illumination or weather the moon is waxing or wanning, but I think I have that last part down. So the April 28th sunrise will be 6:14am and the sunset will be 7:57 pm. The moon will be a wanning gibbous (80% illuminated I’ll guess) that will rise at 4:42 PM.
THE SNOW REPORT:
Believe it or not it has snowed in College Park on this day. No not this century, or last for that matter, but on April 28th 1898 (also the record cold day) we receive a half inch of snow fall. Now I’m not sure if that is a half inch of snow, or half inch of liquid precipitation. The site doesn’t tell me that any more either. If it’s a half inch of liquid precipitation that would work out to roughly 6” of snow. But I can’t confirm or deny that at the moment, so just know that snow is extremely unlikely, but meteorologically speaking, not impossible. For this years Spring game, I’m listing the chances as .5%.
Look here for further updates, as we get closer to game day.
THE CHARITY PLEA:
The Terrapins have been saved.
Interestingly enough I’m reading a book by Shelby Foote about the Civil War.
Last night I read that in 1862 General Winfeild Scott now old and no longer fit
for duty retired to New York “to spend the few remaining years of his life
eating Terrapin Soup, a meal that he claimed ‘confirms the existence of God.’”.
Damn Yankees! Anyway, we still have to contact the turtle people, so look for
new news on that front. If you have any ideas for a new charity, please let me
know. I will discuss with the Terrapin people what their needs are now that the
Harvest Ban has been passed. If it is still worthwhile to give to the Turtle
Fund, we may keep it. I’m up for either. I did enjoy raising money though, it
makes you feel better that you are doing something more than just hanging out
and drinking beer. It gives our tailgate group some higher purpose, you know?
As mentioned in the last Tailgate Recap, we hit our goal of $300, we’ll just
shy, I added in 2$ to round it out. That is 20 turtles that we can save and
over twice our goal of when we started this. Thank you to all who contributed.
THE X-FACTOR:
Just to show you some extremes that could happen and have happened on this particular date in weather history.
- 1921 - A severe hailstorm in Anson County, NC, produced hail the size of baseballs. Gardens, grain fields and trees were destroyed. Pine trees in the storm's path had to be cut for lumber because of the hail damage. (The Weather Channel)
- 1928 - A coastal storm produced tremendous late season snows in the Central Appalachians, including 35 inches at Bayard WV, 31 inches at Somerset PA, and 30 inches at Grantsville MD. High winds accompanying the heavy wet snow uprooted trees and unroofed a number of homes. The storm caused great damage to fruit trees and wild life. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
- 1987 - Twenty cities in the western and central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Highs of 95 degrees at Houston TX, 95 degrees at Lake Charles LA, and 94 degrees at Port Arthur TX, were April records. (The National Weather Summary)
- 1988 - Miami, FL, hit 92 degrees, marking a record eight days of 90 degree heat in the month of April. Squalls produced snow in the Washington D.C. area. Belvoir VA reported a temperature reading of 57 degrees at the time the snow began. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary) What?! This wasn’t in my records!!
- 1989 - Strong northerly winds and heavy snow ushered cold air into the north central U.S. Snowfall totals in Montana ranged up to 20 inches at Miles City. Thunderstorms produced severe weather from eastern Texas to the Southern Appalachians and the southern Ohio Valley. Hail four and a half inches in diameter was reported at Keller TX and White Settlement TX. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
- 1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather in the southeastern U.S. during the day. Severe thunderstorms spawned four tornadoes, including one which injured four persons at Inman SC. There were also more than one hundred reports of large hail and damaging winds, with better than half of those reports in Georgia. Strong thunderstorm winds injured four people at Sadler's Creek SC. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) Twenty-nine cities in the northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date as readings soared into the 80s and lower 90s. Highs of 88 degrees at Binghamton NY, 94 degrees at Buffalo NY, 89 degrees at Erie PA, 90 degrees at Newark NJ, 93 degrees at Rochester NY and 92 degrees at Syracuse NY, were records for the month of April. (The National Weather Summary)
***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.
