Akron Game Weather

I'm not a meteorologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Seriously, I learned to read weather models and Forecast Discussions when I was actively chasing storms. Here is what the latest Forecast Discussion says about Saturday night:
 

A weak cold front should push down in eastern
NE and western IA tonight and then stall or sink slowly south on
Saturday. Storm chances look higher (40 to 70 percent) for
Saturday night. Moisture may pool along the boundary, with PW
values from 1.50 to 2.00 inches. The pattern is favorable for
locally heavy rain, even into Sunday and Sunday night, as mid
level impulses will be moving from west to east through the area
in the moist and unstable environment.



So, the feature you want to be looking at is the cold front location on Saturday, which is like a bulldozer pushing the less dense air ahead of it and causing lift that becomes convective storms. Models can only guess at the location, but the day of the event you need to watch the real conditions. I like to use the SPC Composite Map and click the box on the left showing the Fronts (it updates once an hour). The problem with the language is that they don't know if it is going to stall or sink south. 

Here is what where one model shows the cold front at game time.

AkronTemp.png


The models are showing a TON of gunpowder in the area and more SW of Lincoln (which could be bad because the storms will be moving SW to NE that day). The (possibly) good news is that the storms should be supercells. Forecast language will be for "isolated storms" which means territory between the cells. If you are in the path of a supercell, not so good with hail and high wind being the main threat tomorrow unless you are in the Grand Island to York areas. But if you are not in the direct path of a cell you may not see anything until later in the evening when the discreet supercells merge and become a big MCS (widespread storms/rain over a large area).

There are lots of model runs to go between now and gametime. And there will be differences between models. Gametime is JUST becoming available on the HRRR shortrange model, which goes out 36 hrs on the twelves (Zulu time). I'll update this post with the simulated reflectivity of that model run when it gets to hour 36. The last run it was showing the convective line being well south of Lincoln. Let's hope that trend continues.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This will change, so don't treat this as Gospel, but the most recent run of the HRRR model shows that the radar would look like this.

Starts at 5 PM on Saturday and ends at 11 PM. (Wanted to include the drive to/from Lincoln for those that need it.)

The date stamp in the upper left should read Sun ... 00z =  gametime (7 PM CDT)

AkronLoop.gif


The good news is that the price of Akron game tickets may be dropping quickly. :)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
As far as affecting the game, right now the winds appear to be light during the game, but they also appear to be changing direction for every quarter. Might be a bad day for long field goals, if that trend continues in the model runs. I should also add that this is talking about the "background" winds and not the possibly strong OUTFLOW winds that could come from passing severe storms (that could be brief but intense, as in 60 mph or higher). Those depend on being in the right (or rather wrong) place in relation to the storm and where it is in its lifecycle. Severe Storms criteria means quarter-size hail or larger would be possible.

Omaha's latest Forecast Discussion (includes Lincoln) says this:
 

Unsettled weather continues into Saturday as a surface trough
produces lingering showers and thunderstorms through the morning
hours. There could be a break in precipitation for the afternoon,
before convection redevelops across a stalling cold front early
tomorrow evening. Currently, it appears as though the front could
set up from Lincoln, NE through Hanc$%k, IA. As warm air advection
increases along this boundary, showers and thunderstorms could
increase in coverage through the evening and overnight. With
instability around 2000-3000+ J/kg and bulk shear still around
40kts, there will still be some potential for strong to severe
storms Saturday evening. However, severe or not, thunderstorm
activity could impinge on any outdoor events scheduled for
tomorrow evening.



Interestingly, the Huskerboard software doesn't like the name of a certain town in Iowa. :D

 
Last edited by a moderator:
MODS: Unless you want this to be the generic GameTime weather thread going forward through the season, I would recommend changing the thread title to "Akron Gameday Weather".

 
MODS: Unless you want this to be the generic GameTime weather thread going forward through the season, I would recommend changing the thread title to "Akron Gameday Weather".




I hope do God we don't need one for every game, although the weather looks like it could be bad next Saturday too.

Also, I think you should just lie to us for the next 18 hours and say everything's going to be okay.

 
I hope do God we don't need one for every game, although the weather looks like it could be bad next Saturday too.

Also, I think you should just lie to us for the next 18 hours and say everything's going to be okay.


If there is one thing that Nebraskans understand it is how many times the "Weather Man" is WRONG.

 
Back
Top