The Storm Prediction Center forecasts a slight risk of severe weather this weekend. (Image: spc.noaa.gov)
Alabama was off last week, but here in Tuscaloosa, the weather pattern has shifted to nice, comfortable days and chilly nights. In other words: Football weather. However, the Crimson Tide doesn’t come back to Bryant-Denny Stadium for another two weeks. This weekend, they travel to Columbia, MO for the Tide’s first SEC conference game with the Missouri Tigers. Many Bama fans will be traveling up to see Bama play, but what does the weather forecast have in store?
Friday
The daytime hours on Friday will have a slight chance of a storm coming through the area, but it’s more possible that you won’t see a storm come though Columbia. You might see a shower or two, but thunderstorms could come as well. In places where there is no rain, expect mostly cloudy to overcast skies. It will be slightly chilly all day as the temperatures will stay between the Upper 50’s to Lower 60’s.
As for the nighttime hours, the low will only drop to 58 degrees overnight, so expect a chilly evening as well. Also, expect a shower or two to come by and maybe a thunderstorm. Rain overnight shouldn’t be more than a 1/10th of an inch, but rain gauge could show more if a thunderstorm happens to pass by the area.
Saturday
Saturday is going to be a very lively day for Tide and Missouri fans alike as they converge on campus for the game. Kickoff is at 2:30pm and will be televised on CBS.
However, the forecast is looking really bad and many fans will need to be near a source of weather information throughout the day. A big storm will be arriving in the Midwest area during the day Saturday. According to the National Weather Service, there is a potential for these storms to be strong to severe.
Right now, however, there is a lot of uncertainty with this storm, but the SPC has labeled much of Missouri, including Columbia, as having a slight risk of a severe storm to develop (see image above) and think that, at the very least, a strong wind event will occur. Right now, they have the area of Columbia having a 30 percent chance of a severe storm to develop within 25 miles of any given point. This means that they could possibly increase the risk tomorrow when they issue the 2-day outlook.
The timing of this storm is still somewhat up in the air, but right now we can say it’s likely that a storm will come to Columbia during the game and possibly into the evening hours. You could also see storms move in during the morning time. Either way, the main threats are rain, hail and damaging winds and a tornado is not completely out of the question as well. Please take a look at some of the resources I have linked at the bottom of this post so that you will stay up to date on the latest.
Sunday
Staying in town for Sunday? Things will be much calmer than the past couple days. Highs will get to the lower 70’s and lows will reach the 40’s. it will be mostly clear.
Resources
Because of the chance of severe storms this weekend in Columbia, I wanted to direct you to some information so you can keep up to date on the weather situation before, during and after the game.
I know it’s a shameless plug, but give me a follow on Twitter. I’ll be keeping an eye on things the next couple of days with the situation and will provide updates on that as much as possible. If it’s only a temporary follow to just keep to up to date on the latest, that is fine. I simply want to provide you with updates on the latest.
Check out the University of Missouri’s gameday page. There you find info on their inclement weather procedures and emergency evacuation plan. They will likely provide updates as we get closer to gameday.
Also check out MU’s Enviornmental Health and Safety site for their procedures of alerting the public about weather emergencies.