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Clemson Forecast:                                                                                        

“From Roar to Meow:  The Story of the 2008 Clemson Football Team”

                                                                        -Bob W.

THE INTRO: 

This may sound a little extreme, but this game versus Clemson could very well be the battle for the Atlantic Division.  Now granted FSU, and Wake may have something to say to that, but you can’t deny the fact that whoever losses this game is going to be behind the proverbial eight ball.  This isn’t like losing the MTST game. 

Speaking of the MTST game, which Maryland team is going to show up down in the Upstate?  If it’s the one that went to the Tennessee, we’ll we might as well pack it up.  But if it was the team that played Cal this past weekend, we could pull this one off.  I’m obviously hoping for that 2^nd team.  And who knows maybe they will be the one that shows up. 

I know it isn’t related but that hit Kevin Barnes laid on Best in the Cal game has generated a lot of buzz, not to mention a lot of hits on you-tube.  Now normally I’d say what would a hit in the Cal game possibly do to help us win a game 2 weeks later 600 miles away?  Well quite possibly nothing, but again, quite possibly everything.  How often do you see something like that springboard a team to a higher level?  I’m not saying it’s a guarantee, but you have to admit it wouldn’t be totally un-heard of.  So there is reason to believe.

Another reason to believe is Clemson.  The whole world knows they played F-L-A-T against Bama on opening weekend.  If they do that again there is no reason to think we can’t beat them.  But chances are they will be more ready to go, playing in Death Valley as opposed to the Georgia Dome (if that’s what it’s even called anymore).  So it is probably best to assume that this one is not going to be a walk in the park. 

The one thing that does encourage me however is the start time.  I love the noon start down in Clemson.  That’s how we beat them 2 years ago.  The crowd isn’t nearly as up for it on noon starts and that will negate some of the Tigers home field advantage.  In fact if we do win this game, I am going to petition Debbie Yow so that we get every away game at noon.  Not that we really have any say in away game start times, but in case we do. 

Overall I think this is going to be a tough battle, one we can win, but it will still be tough.  Of course I’m not much good at forecasting football games, and ironically I’m only slightly better at predicting the weather, but since that’s the name of this section I might as well give it a shot. 

THE HISTORY:

This game against Clemson will be our last game of September as well as our first game of fall.  Summer is pretty much a memory by now.  Of course it does tend to linger a little longer in South Carolina than it does in Maryland, so there probably won’t be any need to break out the jackets for this one.  As for the history, the average high in Clemson, SC on September 27^th is 80 F, and the average low is 57 F.  The record high on this date is 94 F which happened back in 1954, and the record low is 40 F which was set back in 1940. 

THE FORECAST:

Well as some of you know I have started a new job.  What does that have to do with the weather forecast you say, we’ll I found a website that helps me predict long term precipitation probability, but I booked marked it on my work computer not my personal computer, and now I can’t find it anywhere!  But who needs that, we still have the trusty Farmers Almanac.  And it says that we can expect heavy rain early on in the week, but sunny and seasonable weather by the weekend.  So the game should be alright.  More specifically however:

The forecast for the September 27^th “Endangered  Species vs. Threatened Species (we’re only threatened, they’re the endangered ones)” Game is looking for some rather pristine football conditions.  In fact I’m down right annoyed that I’m not going to be in attendance.  For the high I’m going to put it in the low 80’s we’ll say 81 and the low will actually be kind of chilly at 55.  The reason I’m making it that low is because it is going to be so nice that we are going to see some radiational cooling at night.  There is no chance of rain, and most of the clouds will be of the high variety.  There also won’t be too much of a breeze.  It’s just going to be pleasant.  The kickoff time is noon so I may have to take back that jacket comment in the history section if you’re tailgating, but for those just going to the game, they can leave it at home.  So to recap, high 81F, low 55F no rain, few clouds, and not much breeze.  An ideal autumn day for football if you ask me.

CODE YELLOW SUNBURN WARNING- Just keep in mind, there is a pretty good chance of getting some sunburn at this game.  Not a lot, but it is certainly possible if not probable, so I am going to go with a code yellow.

The game day sunrise for Clemson, SC on September 27, 2008 is 7:23 AM.  And the sunset should be around 7:20 PM.  This is going to put the first whole quarter of the tailgate in the dark, but there isn’t anything wrong with that. 

As for the moon, the moon will rise at 5:36 AM (in time for the start of the tailgate) and set at 6:20 PM.  Though it will be out, there really won’t be much of it to see as it will be a waning crescent with just 5% illumination.            

THE HURRICANE REPORT:

Well obviously there has been a lot in the news with Fay, Hanna, Gustav, and Ike (not necessarily in that order).  Traditionally the peak of Hurricane season is about September 10^th and I don’t think 2008 was an exception to that rule.  I do feel though that things will settle down a bit as we march off further into fall.  Of course you can’t rule anything out at this point, so I am going to go a little conservative and give out a ranking of 13 for this game.  It shouldn’t be an issue, but things are just too crazy to just flat out say don’t worry about it. 

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THE SNOW REPORT:

Closed for the Season.

With the record low for the date being 40 F, no reason to open shop on the Snow Report.  Especially considering we’ll be in South Carolina for this one, maybe the UVA game will give us a chance.

THE X-FACTOR: 

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

• 1816 - A black frost over most of New England kills unripened corn in the north resulting in a year of famine. (David Ludlum)
• 1959 - A tornado 440 yards in width traveled twenty miles from near Hollow, OK, to western Cherokee County KS. Although a strong tornado, it was very slow moving, and gave a tremendous warning roar, and as a result no one was killed. (The Weather Channel)
• 1970 - Afternoon highs of 103 degrees at Long Beach, CA, and 105 degrees at the Los Angeles Civic Center were the hottest since September records were established in 1963. Fierce Santa Ana winds accompanying the extreme heat resulted in destructive fires. (The Weather Channel)
• 1985 - A record early season snowstorm struck the Central High Plains Region. The storm left up to nineteen inches of snow along the Colorado Front Range, and as much as a foot of snow in the High Plains Region. (Storm Data)
• 1987 - While those at the base of Mount Washington, NH, enjoyed sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s, the top of the mountain was blanketed with 4.7 inches of snow, along with wind gusts to 99 mph, and a temperature of 13 degrees. Severe thunderstorms developed along a cold front in the south central U.S. A thunderstorm west of Noodle TX produced golf ball size hail and wind gusts to 70 mph. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1988 - Thunderstorms developing ahead of a cold front produced large hail in southeastern Wyoming during the afternoon, with tennis ball size hail reported at Cheyenne. Strong winds ushering the cold air into the north central U.S. gusted to 59 mph at Lander WY. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1989 - Freezing temperatures were reported in the Great Lakes Region and the Ohio Valley. Houghton Lake MI reported a record low of 21 degrees. Thunderstorms in the western U.S. produced wind gusts to 50 mph at Salt Lake City UT, and gusts to 58 mph at Cody WY.(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.