Middle
Tennessee State Forecast
“Time for some payback”
-Bob W
The Backdrop:
I’m going to shake things up a little with these forecasts. When I first began them, I had nothing to do, all I did all summer was wait around for tailgating season to begin, and as a way to help elevate that boredom I would do these long range forecasts, just to get myself thinking about the game. Well fast forward to where I have 1.5 kids (That’s correct for those I haven’t talked to in the last few weeks), a job that doesn’t give me time to kill, 3 websites to maintain and…oh yeah the father thing again. Now football season comes as quickly as lunch does, and I don’t have time to kill.
So for the time being I’m going to try to do these forecasts in the now. Timing aside, there really isn’t much reason to give forecasts that could be complete misses. This will provide everyone with more update information that has a bit of practical use. I’ll try to write them mid to late week so that not much changes between me publishing them, and the actual game.
Now we all know how important this game is. MTSU gave us our most embarrassing loss of the year, if not the Ralph Friedgen era and we need to avenge it. If not for the 2008 result, then for the fact that it appears wins are going to be pretty hard to come by this season, which makes any winnable game, a big game.
So with that let’s get on to the weather (in the future the Backdrop Section will be more about the game, this first one I focused more on explaining my future forecasts).
The History:
The average high on September 19th in College Park, Maryland is 79 F and the average low is 59 F. The record is 93 F which occurred in 1965, and the record low is 38 F which happened back in 1959. Those records are pretty safe.
The Forecast:
The National Weather Service is calling for a high around 72 F and a low around 58 F with light winds and some clouds, but little if any chance of rain. Now with a kickoff scheduled for 3:30 that means we will be tailgating from 9:30- 3:00. This will probably mean we’ll be looking at temperatures from 62-72. A little on the chilly side for such an early game (Where’s Al Gore now?). As the game kicks off and the sun sets over Tyser Tower, the temperatures will be dropping from a kick off high of 71 into the low 60’s. So keep that in mind.
The Warnings:
I’m not posting any warnings for this one. It may be on the chilly side, but it’s hard to do a warning for temperatures that are cooler than inside my house right now. In fact we should probably all be thankful for this weather. Maybe this will be the first September football game where J doesn’t suffer heat stroke.
The Fashion Forecast:
With temps like these you can probably get away with anything. I’d try to have a t-shirt available at some point, but also you might want to bring some long sleeves. The early morning and post game tailgating could be chilly. I’ll be wearing shorts personally, but if you wanted to wear jeans, you’d probably be all right. It may be touch and go from 1-3, but by halftime of the game, you won’t be complaining about having them on.
The Sun and Moon:
The sunrise for this game (which won’t be while we are
tailgating thankfully) is for 6:52 AM. The Sunset is for 7:09 PM, though the
game may end with a little bit of daylight left, be prepared to drive home in
the dark because it will probably take at least a little while to get out of the
parking lots. 
As for the moon, it is basically following the sun around on this day. It rises at 7:50 AM and sets at 7:19 PM. Of course the only way you will know this is by reading it since it will be 100% invisible or 0% illuminated.
On this Date in Weather History:
- 1947 - The eye of a hurricane passed directly over New Orleans, and the barometric pressure dipped to 28.61 inches. The hurricane killed fifty-one persons, and caused 110 million dollars damage. It produced wind gusts to 155 mph while making landfall over Fort Lauderdale FL two days earlier. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
- 1967 - Hurricane Beulah deluged Brownsville, TX, with 12.19 inches of rain in 24 hours, to establish a record for that location. Hurricane Beulah made landfall on the 20th near the mouth of the Rio Grande River, where a wind gust to 135 mph was reported by a ship in the port. (19th-20th) (The Weather Channel)
- 1987 - Cool autumn-like weather invaded the Central Rockies. Temperatures dipped into the 30s and 40s, with readings in the teens and 20s reported in the higher elevations. Gunnison CO was the cold spot in the nation with a morning low of 15 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
- 1988 - Thunderstorms developing along a fast moving cold front produced severe weather in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Eight tornadoes were reported, including five in Indiana. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 74 mph at Wabash IND. Winds associated with the cold front itself gusted to 69 mph at Kenosha WI. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
- 1989 - Showers and thunderstorms produced heavy rain in the Middle and Northern Atlantic Coast Region. Cape Hatteras NC was deluged with nearly 3.50 inches of rain in three hours. Syracuse NY reported 1.77 inches of rain, a record for the date, and Chatham NJ reported an all-time record of 3.45 inches in one day. Hurricane Hugo headed for the Bahamas, and Tropical Storm Iris, following close on its heels, strengthened to near hurricane force. (The National Weather Summary)