The Ghana Game (Natal - June 12) The game is last game of the day and will be held at 4 PM local time. The forecast is a high of 87 and a low of 77 with a 69 percent humidity, more sun than clouds, and a 10 percent chance of precipitation. That high is to feel like 96. My guess, would be a temp of 83ish and feels like 90ish; however, with a dense air that makes it harder to breathe. The Portugal Game (Manaus - June 17) The average temperature at this time of year is 87. Cloud cover is typically about 50 percent. And the percent of the day/night over 80 degrees is less than 20 percent (less than five hours). The hot season for Manaus is actually more late July through early November. The game is to be played at 6 PM local time. So, it's basically a night game. By then, the temperature should be in the 70's and the cloud cover likely to be significant. And if it doesn't rain and there's a bit of a breeze (wind tends to be between 3-8 mph), then it could even be somewhat pleasant weather; though it could be dreadfully muggy instead. Rain is a significant possibility. Just looking at the current 10 day forecast, the chance of rain ranges from 30-70 percent. Thus, it would seem that there is a one in two chance of rain. Though, a graph puts it more accurately around 45 percent, with about a 38 percent chance of heavier rain (thunderstorms). However, within a two hour window, the rain percent chance would be significantly lower, I would think. The Germany Game (Recife - June 26) The game will be played at 1 local time. So, it's basically a high noon type of game. Though, temperature-wise, this actually the cool part of the year for Recife. And for a full 24 hour cycle, the weather is 'comfortable' about 20 percent of the time, which is way better than the virtually non-existent non-comfort for the rest of the year. However, at game time, it would not be in the comfort zone__ but perhaps, not so uncomfortable either. June 14th is actually the start of 'the cold season' in Recife. Temp averages for this time of year are low 80's, cloud cover averages are about 65 percent, and like Manaus--precipitation averages are about 45 percent (38 percent heavy rain chance). Again, within the game window, the percent chance would be even lower. References http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/scoreboard/ http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/brazil/natal/ext http://weatherspark.com/averages/33461/Natal-Rio-Grande-do-Norte-Brazil http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/difference.html?p1=568 http://weatherspark.com/averages/33452/Manaus-Amazonas-Brazil http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Manaus+Brazil+BRXX0146 http://weatherspark.com/averages/33478/Recife-Pernambuco-Brazil
It sounds like the Natal game may be the hottest instead of Manaus, that is too bad for us. Ghana is well accustomed to high temps with high humidity. Our Euro boys are going to have to dig deep in to their reserves to pull this one off.
The game is at 7pm local time according to FIFA. What's the weather at 7pm??? Should be cooler right, also Natal is on the coast isn't, so will there be a coastal breeze cooling everyone off???
The temperatures mentioned are where, exactly? An empty stadium absorbing the sun all day before the kick off at 4 would be higher than weather station reports, I might guess. Anyway there should not be a problem since Jurgen has already observed the various performances in Central America during the Hex and he has a rep as somebody who scrutinizes conditioning performance verrrry closely.
BTW - I don't know what all I was thinking; but I screwed up the dates. Ghana is June 17 and Portugal is June 22. That may slightly affect things. I put the links so people could come to their own conclusions as my quick searching was never meant to be infallible, anyhow. I guess I should've taken more time; but I was just trying to get something out there and then get refocused on my own work. I got the Germany date right. Yea, that appears to be another error on my part. I re-checked, and the Ghana game is at 6 PM Eastern and 7 PM Local Time. So, the Ghana game is at night. The air may end up being muggy; but that means the sun won't be beating down on anyone in conjunction though. So, imo, the weather is not going to be the big factor people have been thinking for the Ghana game.
I've been to Recife in late June, totally manageable. For me, there are a LOT of places on the east coast of the US that are hella worse in June/July. It's probably even more manageable than some of places in Central America during "winter". I know that this isn't the travel section, but for anybody going, my peeps heavily recommend going to Joao Pessoa, which is on the coast between Receife and Natal.
Current 10 day forecasts. Rain forecasted every day for Manaus and Recife- going to be sloppy fields. Doesn't look like we will see a game in the 90's but with all the wet weather if the sun comes out it could get awfully muggy. Natal vs. Ghana 7pm local kickoff- http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/BRTO0166 Manaus vs. Portugal 6pm local kickoff- http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/BRXX0146 Recife vs. Germany 3pm local kickoff- http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/BRXX0195
So who's hoping for a Lebron situation with CR7? I don't wish anything bad on players, but I wouldn't mind CR7's hammy cramping up during our match.
I think a big story could be the wet fields. They are going to get torn apart and favor more direct play. The field yesterday in Sao Paulo for Brazil vs. Serbia was destroyed by the end of the game.
Not sure what you're looking at, Huckleberry. By the link you posted, the Ghana game should be no rain and given the time of the game something in the high 70's (plus or minus a few degrees). And no rain for the five days before the game too; so the field should be in good condition. For the other games, no ten day forecasts yet. However, the historical ramifications I'd look at the OP. It was fairly accurate on the weather patterns; just not on some dates and times.
Manaus Field Report http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/socce...s-before-first-world-cup-match-203859043.html
Weather forecast still showing 70% chance of thunderstorms for Manaus every day preceeding the US game. The Cameroon:Croatia match is tomorrow which then gives us three full days for the pitch to recover. Hard to recover if it's getting 2+ inches of rain a day (if indeed that happens). Random assorted info: Sunset today is 5:59PM local Kickoff is 5PM local Game day forecast for US game shows 70% thunderstorms during morning/day but partly cloudy and 20% chance of rain at night (which I assume is "after sunset") For tomorrow's game, night time temps are predicated at 74 degrees with 96% humidity http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/BRXX0146 http://sports.yahoo.com/news/manaus...cup-s-most-controversial-venue-031345813.html
Here's today's forecast. Rain before the game and possibly during it, upper 70s but very humid. Here's a pretty weather site. Astronomy trivia: since yesterday was the solstice, and Manaus is close to the equator, it's getting 12 hour days, with the path of the sun dividing the sky in half. Since it's close to the middle of the time zone, the sun rose at close to 6 am (6:03) and will set at exactly 6 pm. At noon (which was an hour ago, there) the sun was directly overhead.
Half of this stuff is wrong. Days at the equator are always about 12 hours long and the sun would be directly overhead at noon on the equinox, not the solstice. Sorry about that.