We’ve moved!

That’s right. The Rainout Blog has moved to a new location. (Where were you when we were lifting the fridge and the sofa?) You can find the blog at Rainoutblog.wordpress.com. Or, you can just stay here and read sports weather posts from the past nine years. Make yourself comfortable… but we’ve turned off the electric and the water.  

Slippery when wet

What’s it like to try to pitch effectively in a pouring rain? To throw strikes with a wet ball? To not let the ball slip out of your hand and bean the batter? To not go down in a mud slide from the mound?

Ask Brett Anderson.

The Dodgers’ lefty had the unenviable task of trying to sit down Colorado Rockies’ hitters Friday night while also attempting to ignore pesky, steady rain drops. And yeah, he also had to maintain his footing and not slide of the slippery mound.

"You can't really think about that, or you'll be hesitant and you could hurt yourself worse," Anderson said. "But it was weird circumstances."

In this video (for some reason the video is not embedding on the blog), you can see Anderson struggle through the rain as he faced the Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon. Anderson got off to a good start against Blackmon, tallying a no balls and two strikes count, but then threw four straight balls to walk the Rockies’s outfielder. Anderson, as you will see, slipped and almost fell as he threw ball four.

Give Blackmon credit; he also had to focus through the rain drops on some 91-mph heat from Anderson to draw the walk. And you know he had to be thinking about the possibility of a wet ball zipping toward his skull after slipping from Anderson’s hand.

Lousy weather conditions persisted and umpires called the game after five innings, shortly after Blackmon’s at-bat, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 win over the Rockies at Coors Field.

"It was difficult. Pretty poor conditions," Anderson said. "I can't believe we played through five innings of that. It's probably the hardest rain I've played through on the field.”

Rain postponed the following night’s action, and then… then came the snow, which covered Coors Field Saturday, prompting Anderson to tweet:

On second thought, that rain I pitched in wasn't so bad. pic.twitter.com/Rt89Y24Zqu

— Brett Anderson (@BrettAnderson35) May 10, 2015

Heavens can't wait!

Associated Press

Have you ever had one of those moments – pre-DVR, of course – where you had to run off from to the television during a baseball game to… um, take care of important business? You wanted to get through one more batter – your team is playing a rival in an important series – but you just couldn’t wait.

That’s relatable, I think, to the happenings in Detroit Sunday night. In a 1-1 tie, Miguel Cabrera came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with his Tigers in 1-1 tie with the Royals.

That’s when it happened. The skies couldn’t hold it any longer.

Rain delayed the game for an hour and 43 minutes, pushing the contest well past midnight and making me even more sleep deprived. When the game resumed, the homestanding Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, but failed to produce a run. The Royals grabbed a run in the top of the 10^th and hung on for a 2-1 series-clinching win over its American League Central rivals.

Video

Foggy day at Turf Moor

Burnley and West Brom played to a 2-2 draw last weekend in a bit of fog at Turf Moor Stadium, as you can see in the photo, but that’s nothing compared to the Boxing Day 1992 match between West Brom and Chester. 

The first half was barely visible from the stands. Here’s the highlight reel.

White, then yellow, then white again

As I was scouring through wire photos today, I noticed this gem, which is perfect material for The Rainout Blog. 

The cutline accompanying this Associated Press photo reads:

“Augsburg's Raul Bobadilla from Argentina saves a ball during heavy snow fall during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the SGL Arena in Augsburg, Germany, on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015.”

 I have to confess, I know nothing about Bundesliga soccer. I’m more of a Premier League kind of guy. However, after conducting a littler research – because that’s what all good sports/weather bloggers do – I found that Augsburg won 3-1.

As you can see in the photo, a yellow ball was in play, but that wasn’t the case at the beginning of the match. At the 30th minute, when the snow became heavier, referees swapped the white ball for the yellow for better visibility. However, the white ball made a return once the snow stopped and melted from the pitch.

I'm curious. On a snowy night in Germany, I wonder how much air pressure those soccer balls lost because of the cold temperatures. I'm not sure, but I know who would: Bill Belichick the Science Guy, that's who.

-- snow --

Derby rain

Chelsea and Derby County are going at each other today in a Capital One Cup quarterfinal match at iPro Stadium. 

At the moment, Chelsea holds a 2-0 lead on a rainy night in Derby.

UPDATE: Chelsea is through to the semifinals with a 3-1 victory. Here's the full report from the London club, complete with photos.

-- Rain --

Friday Football Forecasts (A day early)

Getty Images

About a year ago, I thought it was a good idea to post the gameday forecasts for each NFL contest. Why hadn’t I thought of this earlier? Next year, I’ll do this every week from the beginning of the season, I thought.

When the new NFL season rolled around in September, I remembered my plans. And then I checked the forecasts.

Oh! Everything is the same: Sunny and warm.

Why didn’t I think of that earlier?

Anyway, here we are in December and week 14 of the NFL season. It’s a good time to bring back the Friday Football Forecasts, starting with tonight’s game, a Thursday night affair, (I love starting Friday on a Thursday) between the Bears and my childhood team, the Cowboys, in Chicago.

Cowboys at Bears (Night): Low of 35/Mostly cloudy (Wait. Tell Romo’s December record again.)

Steelers at Bengals: High of 39/Partly cloudy

Colts at Browns: High of 35/Partly cloudy

Giants at Titans: High of 44/Mostly cloudy

Ravens at Dolphins: High of 76/Clear (Ahhhh, nice!)

Jets at Vikings: High of 29/Overcast (Yep, an overcast of gloom for the Jets’ offense.)

Rams at Redskins: High of 42/Clear

Texans at Jaguars: High of 62/Partly cloudy

Bills at Broncos: High of 50/Clear:

49ers at Raiders: High of 62/Overcast

Seahawks at Eagles: High of 38/Clear (Game of the Day?)

Patriots at Chargers (Night): Low of 63/Mostly cloudy

Monday Night
Falcons at Packers: Low of 26/Mostly cloudy

-- Rainout --

On the flip side

Associated Press

This blog is mostly dedicated to bad weather conditions and how those conditions can play havoc at sporting events.

I, like most people (I think) love that stuff. That’s why I created this blog.

With that said, I couldn't help but be captivated by the images on my TV Saturday when I tuned in for the USC thumping of Notre Dame. It was beautiful weather there in Southern California, nothing like what was outside my house that day.

The LA Times reported USC received commitments from at least six recruits that day. If given the opportunity to play, study and live where it’s sunny and 75 in late November, who wouldn't make that commitment?

-- RAINOUT --

Rodgers: Green Bay weather gives us advantage

Heading into December’s slate of NFL games, the Green Bay Packers find themselves a game in front of the Detroit Lions for the NFC North division lead.

At 9-3 and coming off an impressive win over the previously hot New England Patriots on a cold evening in Green Bay, the Packers are in position to grab the division title, particularly with two of their remaining regular season games being at Lambeau Field.

One of those games, the last of the season, is against the Lions, a team that has bested the Packers earlier in the season.

The Packers, led by super quarterback Aaron Rodgers, are also fighting for home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Playing in those frigid Green Bay temperatures, and especially field slick from snow and ice, gives the Packers’ offense an advantage, says Rodgers, even against other cold weather teams.

“It doesn't really matter what team comes in; there’s an advantage based on the footing and the weather,” Rodgers said this morning on ESPN’s Mike and Mike. “I’ve always found in the cold weather, it’s a little bit more difficult to rush the passer. And, the footing favors the offense because, much like on an icy field or a wet field, an offensive player knows where he’s going. You have a slight advantage there.”

We all know that from our days playing backyard football in the snow, right?

If you were running with the ball, you could easily put a move on a defender, who would have to react to your movement, and then slip right on his keister. Anyone who has experienced the joy of football in the snow with their buddies has more than likely been on both ends of that scenario.

OK. Back to Rodgers. He briefly mentioned the effect cold temps can have on the ball, saying “the cold weather does some different things to the football, and if you’re not used to that it can bother you a little bit.”

I was hoping Professor Rodgers would delve in how the elasticity of the ball decreases in the cold. It would have been great to get a cold-weather quarterback’s insight into how the frigid temps affect his grip and the flight of the ball.

Hey, you know what. Maybe I’ll give him a call.

Stay tuned.

-- RAINOUT --

Pray for rain?

San Francisco Examiner

There’s a slight chance rain could be a factor during Game 4 of the World Series Saturday evening in San Francisco.

At the moment, the extended forecast shows a 40 percent chance of precipitation at about the time Ryan Vogelsong fires the first pitch for the Giants. Rain chances increase to 60 percent during the 6 and 7 p.m. hours and dip back to 40 percent around 8 p.m. Temperatures should be in the mid to low 60s.

It’s not likely rain will cause a postponement, but we could see some rain throughout the contest.

However, according to this story, AT&T Park is equipped with a custom-designed SubAir System that, among other cool things, utilizes a vacuum mode that “quickly removes standing water, virtually eliminating the need for extended game delays or cancellations due to field conditions.”

Good to know.

Anyway, Giants ace Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to pitch Game 4 on three-day’s rest. A rainout and postponement of Game 4 to Sunday would give him an extra day. If you’re a Giants fan, do you pray for rain in hopes of a fresher arm for Bumgarner?

-- rain --

All’s clear

Not a cloud in the sky.

Like most of you, my life is super busy. So much so, I rarely get a chance to update The Rainout Blog for the seven people who visit this blog. (That number may be a bit inflated.)

Often, a sports/weather event will occur or be forecasted – remember: Game 3 of the ALDS was rained out – and I’ll cringe just a little because there’s no time to grab the laptop and write a post and share a photo or two.

Today, I have a little free time. So, what’s happening? Nothing.

Weather in Kansas City for the first two games of the World Series have been perfect.

We have Thursday night NFL action in Denver, where it looks like there will be a better chance of Peyton Manning NOT adding to his touchdown record than there is a chance of rain drops or snowflakes – you never know in Denver.

The low in the Mile High city tonight will be around 48. It’ll be a little chilly, but it shouldn’t be enough to affect Manning’s performance. He’s not a cold-weather quarterback, ya know?

There are a couple of college football games scheduled for tonight. Miami travels to Blacksburg for an ACC showdown – more likely a “letdown” for the home team – with Virginia Tech. Temps will dip to the mid 40s, which is about as cold as the Hokies’ offense.

You’ll see about the same weather conditions in Greenville, North Carolina if you tune into tonight’s East Carolina home game with Connecticut. (Why would you do that?)

And you know what? Sunday’s NFL slate looks pretty unspectacular too, meaning no rain, no mud, no snow, no fog… no nothin’.