Virginia
Forecast:
“At least our mascot isn’t some French guy in a cape”
Chief D-7 Meteorologist Bob Wevodau
UPDATE:
For those keeping score the weather desk has improved to 3-1 and looking to make some noise in the top 25 when the next “Weather Polls” are released. Just had to get that out of the way, now on to things that are actually relevant. Our forecast for the UVA game is sunny with a high of 73 and a low of 54. The National Weather Service is calling for Sunny with a high of 75 and a low of 60. I am starting to think the NWS is like that kid who sat next to me in history class who miraculously keeps coming up with all the same answers I got. Regardless the Denton 7 Weather Desk looks to be right on the money (at least as of Wednesday) and could improve to 4-1 (though we have a tough forecast with Temple coming up). But more importantly, this is looking like an awesome (cue that commercial with the guy signing “…being a Dad is Awesome!”)* day to watch Maryland Football.
*if you know that commercial that is a funny line, if you don’t know the commercial disregard the ( )s.
Another border war for the Terps this week, and this one is huge. Over the years we have been trading blows with UVA. We win in CP, they win in Charlottesville, half the time this is a bad policy, but I will certainly take it this year. The Terps are 1-1 as I write this and if we can beat WVU this weekend and then just bring our D+ game to Temple we should be at 3-1 and as you can see there would be a huge difference between 4-1 and 3-2. A win here could erase the horrible Clemson loss and get us back on track for a decent bowl game.
No kick off time has been given for this one yet. I expect UVA to come in with a strong record and Maryland could be 3-1 as pointed out earlier so a decent start time could be in the works. Regardless the first week of October is usually pretty ideal for the football season. The average high for October 1 in College Park, MD is 74 F° (oh yeah) and the average low is about 56 F°. Anything near those would be kick ass! The record high for this date is 93 F° (1927) and the record low is a blustery 36 F° set way back in 1899 (before global warming obviously). I think we should be right around those averages.
The Farmers Almanac for Oct 1-4 is calling for fair weather with showers moving in later in the week. Since our tailgate is in the first part of the forecast I will assume we are under the fair part, and the showers are for later. FACTOID ALERT: Did you know that October is the driest month of the year in Maryland? It is because of that and the Farmers Almanac (which has me 2-0 on the year thus far) that I am going to call for a beautiful fall day. No frost on the pumpkins yet, but no sunburn alert either.
The forecast for the October 1, 2005 “Battle of the Potomac” game is for impeccable football weather. The morning will start off nice and crisp, like all October mornings should, with the lows in the mid to lower 50’s. It will give most a chance to debut their new fall jacket or vest for the season, I know I will (that doesn’t make me gay does it?). If you’re looking for an exact early morning temp I am going to say 54. The afternoon will warm up to a comfortable 73 and most people will be back in short sleeves by then. I am not sure of the game time but anywhere from noon to 8:00pm should be extremely pleasant. For the wind I am calling for some somewhat gusty conditions roughly 10-15 mph. This will provide one unlucky flip cup team with some alibi when they get crushed (like my team at the Navygate). At the risk of setting myself up for a law suit, I am NOT issuing any poncho or sunburn warnings.
The game day sunrise for College Park, Maryland on Ocotober 1st is for 7:04 am. The sunset is scheduled for 6:50 pm. We have officially passed the fall equinox (if you don’t know what that is you have a weather forecast assignment for the UVA game). The moon will be awesome. Look for it to come up around 5:10 am and set in the evening around 6:14pm. It may be hard to see and find, but when you will do you will see a waning crescent just 4% illuminated. The perfect little sliver, which also represents UVA’s chances in this game.
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.
- 1752 - The second severe hurricane in two weeks hit the Carolinas. The Onslow County Courthouse was destroyed along with all its records, and Beacon Island disappeared. (David Ludlum) YOU WANT THE ISLAND ANYMORE… GONE!
- 1893 - The second great hurricane of the 1893 season hit the Mississippi Delta Region drowning more than 1000 persons. (David Ludlum). Sounds vaguely familiar.
- 1987 - A blast of cold arctic air hit the north central U.S. An afternoon thunderstorm slickened the streets of Duluth MN with hail and snow, and later in the afternoon, strong northerly winds reached 70 mph. Unseasonably warm weather continued in the Pacific northwest. Afternoon highs of 90 degrees at Olympia WA, 92 degrees at Portland OR, and 89 degrees at Seattle WA, were records for the month of October. For Seattle WA it marked the twenty- first daily record high for the year, a record total in itself. (The National Weather Summary)
- 1988 - Afternoon and evening thunderstorms produced severe weather across central Oklahoma and the eastern half of Texas. Thunderstorms in Texas produced softball size hail northwest of Nocona, and baseball size hail at Troy and Park Springs. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) Who would be brave enough to lay on top of the table like a good solider should?
- 1989 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather in the southeastern U.S. through the daytime and evening hours. Severe thunderstorms spawned eleven tornadoes, with seven of those tornadoes in Georgia. A tornado southwest of Moultrie, GA, killed two persons and injured a dozen others. Tornadoes also injured one person north of Graceville, FL, and two persons at Bartow, GA. (Storm Data) (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.