Kevin's Blog

What a great time to be a fan of competitive sports. The NFL season is underway, college football's BCS standings are but three weeks away, the MLB playoffs start this week, NASCAR is on the back straight away and headed into the final championship turn, and the NBA and NHL are right around the corner. But, all of these so-called major sports pale in comparison to the REAL challenge that starts this week - The Weather Challenge!

The Weather Challenge is a national weather forecasting contest that pits forecast teams from 76 colleges and universities against one another. We make forecasts for various cities around the country four times per week in a 22-week season that ends with a March Madness-style tournament just after the NCAA basketball tournament in April, 2009. Is your favorite college or university on the list? Check out the participants!

MLB Playoffs Outlook

While we are talking about weather and competition, let's turn our attention to the baseball playoffs that begin Wednesday in Anaheim, Tampa, Chicago, and Philly. The weather in Anaheim is usually perfect this time of year and Tampa plays indoors, so that leaves Philadelphia and Chicago as our weather worries for Game 1.

A cold front and storm system with plenty of rain should move through Philadelphia on Tuesday night with a 50% chance of rain showers lingering into the game on Wednesday afternoon. Game time temperatures on should be around 70F but it will feel cooler than that in the ballpark with west winds blowing at about 10mph and rain showers around. Take the rain jacket just in case!

Chicago will be a different story entirely. Fall will have arrived with a playoff passion, and the City will finally live up to its nickname. By the way, "The Windy City" was a term first used to characterize Chicago's blustery politicians in the late 1800s. It had nothing to do with the weather, or the frequent exhales of exasperation exhibited by Cubs fans. Chicago is ranked between Omaha, NE and Austin, TX on weather's windy list, a distant 70th place behind the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire.

A game time temperature of 55F, a chance of drizzle and gusty winds out of the north or northwest at 15-20mph will greet the visitors from sunny southern California who were swept in three low scoring games in Wrigley back in May. Those of you familiar with The Friendly Confines know that a north-northwest wind blows IN from the left field fair pole. Look for the weather to help set the stage another low scoring pitcher's duel between these two teams on Wednesday.

Do you have a question about weather for a specific sporting event? Or would you like to see if your university is competing in The Weather Challenge? Check out your number one source for all of your competition weather information, blogs and forecasts - Fox Weather.

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