500 Festival Forecast: Tuesday (5/2/17):
Week-at-a-glance:
Synopsis: An upper-level low continues to hang around the Midwest, giving us a chance of mixed sunshine and spotty showers through the conclusion of today’s events. Wednesday starts out clear, however clouds increase through the morning and afternoon…expecting showers to sweep from west to east later Wednesday night. Thursday looks to be nearly a washout at this point with heavy rain potential and some gusty winds at times…those, for the most part, carry over into Friday as well. Saturday looks to start out dry, as we progress late morning into the afternoon a cold front is forecasted to move north to south increasing our chance for some showers. Sunday continues to look very nice for any remaining events or tear-down.
Tuesday: Expecting a lot of sunshine today with a high near 59º, the story today though is the very windy conditions out of the southwest turning to northwest at 15mph, gusting at times over 40mph. Some spotty showers will be possible into this afternoon due to an upper-level low hanging around. Wind and rain-related weather hazards will be possible.
Showers remain possible into this afternoon into the evening..coverage at 20-30%.
Very windy conditions through tonight with winds gusting up to 40+mph expected:
Wednesday: We start the day out clear with partly sunny skies expected throughout much of the day and a high near 57º. Expecting showers to slowly creep into central Indiana later Wednesday evening…timing right now is after the conclusion of the days events…watching this closely to see if timing speeds up at all. At this time, not expecting any weather-related hazards.
Showers possible Wednesday evening.
Thursday: Things aren’t looking good here for doing much outside, we’ve placed a chance of ~90% for showers, some being heavy in nature as well. Expecting a high near 60º with winds out of the northeast at 10mph at times gusting to 25-30mph. Expecting rain-related hazards here.
In fact, I think there’s a chance we could see 1.50+”+ rainfall totals just on the day on Thursday…it will be quite wet:
Friday: More rainfall expected on Friday through most of the day, chilly conditions with a high near 48º at this time and winds out of the north-northeast to north-northwest at 10mph, gusting at times to 30-35mph. Showers exit east late. Can’t rule out rain and wind-related hazards here.
Very raw and chilly day on Friday with a high near 48º expected:
Watching for winds gusting up to 30-35mph on Friday:
Saturday: We are expecting a dry start for the race during the morning, although it will be quite chilly at the start of the race with temps in the upper 30s. We warm during the day to near 57º, however we are watching for showers to work north to south late morning into the afternoon which is why we’ve included a 40% chance for showers. Can’t rule out a rain-related weather hazard here.
Temperature near race time expected to be ~38º:
Watching for a pulse of energy along a cold front to bring a chance for showers ~40% late morning into the afternoon from north to south.
Sunday: Expecting a nice day with mostly sunny skies and a high near 60º.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!
-Kirk