Atlanta Motor Speedway Race Day Weather Forecast: Looking More & More Like Rain

There has been little change in the overall forecast for Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The two players that will impact the weather are Tropical Storm Lee (at least the moisture associated with it) and an approaching cold front arriving from the north.

A band of rain will break off off Lee during the day Sunday and bring steady rain into Alabama and Georgia in the afternoon and evening as Lee slowly works inland into Louisiana. We could even see some rain Sunday morning. The images below are model printouts for 8 p.m. EDT Sunday night.

I tweeted Saturday night that optimistically I think we have a 25% chance of getting this race in Sunday night. It isn’t out of the question that there could be breaks in the rain and possible windows. We really won’t know the exact scenario until there is actual rain on the radar moving towards north central Georgia on Sunday morning and afternoon.

I also want fans to know that the rain we are expecting Sunday is only a piece of Tropical Storm Lee. Tropical Storm Lee (or what is left of it) is not expected to affect north and central Georgia until Monday and Tuesday as it slowly moves through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee over the next three days.

If we don’t get an official race in on Sunday there is a real good possibility, based on the current weather forecast, we could have a Wednesday race. A Wednesday race is really the worst-case scenario and I hope we can get it in before that. If there is a Wednesday race then last year’s Chase contenders will not be able to make it to the White House.

SUNDAY:
Mostly cloudy with scattered showers and isolated storms into the afternoon. Not as hot as highs are near 80. Showers become more likely into the evening and after 8pm
SUNDAY RACE FORECAST:
7:30 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Race – Showers and storms becoming likely through the evening – temp: 83