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The NFL season is quickly approaching, which means that we get to all play fantasy football again! I am actually in a league this year, so my own forecasts will actually help me out. Anyways, many of you love fantasy sports, so this is your weekly guide to what the weather will be like for your teams. A couple weeks ago, I did an overview of the climatology of NFL cities and what to expect going into the season for them. This is the weekly form of that, game by game.
What I will do is give the game, the time and then a bit of commentary on the game itself. The link that is within the game title itself is a link to the nfl.com preview. Then I will give a brief overview of why I made the forecast I did. The gametime forecast will then follow, and I will have scale of 1-10 on the odds that the weather significantly impacts your players (1 being the least and 10 the most).
Thursday, September 10th
Pittsburgh @ New England; 7:30 PM
Well, this is the game that officially kicks off the season. New England is the reigning Super Bowl Champion, and has had an enormous cloud surrounding it all of the off-season with everything involving the deflategate situation.
I am absolutely rooting against the Patriots, and hope they get blown out. But because it’s the Patriots, that won’t happen.
So, there will be a cold front dragging across the northeast during the day, and into the evening hours. This will spark some showers and storms across the region, and this should impact the game pretty significantly, especially if they get into the area earlier than I foresee it now.
Gametime forecast: Cloudy, with showers increasing. Temps around 70ºF, falling to the mid 60’s by game’s end. Weather impact: 6/10 due to rain.
Sunday, September 13th
Indianapolis @ Buffalo; 12:00 PM
Well, this outta be a blowout. Buffalo is pretty bad as it is, and they are down about a million players to injuries. So what does that mean? The Colts should be able to cruise to an easy victory over a bad Buffalo team.
Weather-wise, the conditions are looking pretty crappy honestly. Buffalo has bad weather anyways, but Sunday looks like it could just suck. The models have been trending towards a low pressure system forming over the mid-Atlantic states, and strengthening northward. This would put Buffalo with at least cloudy conditions on Sunday, with showers pretty likely.
Gametime forecast: Cloudy, and breezy, with rain showers. Temp around 58ºF, rising into the lower 60s by game’s end. Weather impact: 7/10 due to rain and wind.
This game is gonna be awful. I mean just terrible. Who in their right minds would want to watch the Jets play the Browns, especially with the weather being like I think it will be?
It would be like if you were forced to eat your two favorite foods. It just isn’t fun. Anyways, I’ll always choose anyone over the Browns. Weatherwise, the game looks pretty interesting. The same low pressure system that’ll impact Buffalo will be impacting the NYC area as well, and thus will impact this game.
Scattered showers and storms should have an impact on the way this game plays out, and I would expect there to be a good chance at showers/storms occurring anywhere between kickoff and halftime.
Gametime forecast: Showers and storms, with a temp around 75ºF, falling into the lower 70s. Weather impact: 7/10 because of rain.
Carolina @ Jacksonville; 12:00 PM
This lineup of opening day games is sort of terrible. Carolina and Jacksonville? I mean, Jacksonville maybe has a puncher’s chance in the world. But Cam Newton is pretty awesome.
I feel bad for you, Jacksonville fans. Well, at least the game is in Jacksonville, right? According to my NFL cities climatology, Jacksonville almost always has great weather, and this week will not follow suit.
I would look for the trailing cold front to have a pretty large impact on their weather, as it should spark some showers and storms along it. However, they look pretty weak and look to move out quickly.
Gametime forecast: Scattered storms moving out. Temp around 81ºF, lowering a bit to around 79ºF. Weather impact: 3/10 due to possibility of storms.
Now this is a good game. Aaron Rogers may not have his two best receivers, but who cares? He’ll still be awesome. Plus, it’s at Lambo. Plus, the Bears and the Packers HATE each other. So, this looks to be a great game.
Can’t shy away from choosing the Packers at home, though. Also: Randall Cobb is so awesome (but is hurt).
Weatherwise, it looks awesome. Just flat out awesome. With high pressure settling across the region, temperatures will remain modest under sunny skies. Play your players in this game. If you have anyone on your team, play em. Unless you’re scared.
Gametime forecast: Sunny, sunny and more sunny. Temp around 65ºF, rising into the upper 60s by the end of the game. Weather impact: 0/10!
Kansas City @ Houston; 12:00 PM
DOME ALERT. It’s the first dome forecast, and I am super hype about it.
I love doing dome forecasts. They can be anything that I want them to be. Because the weather conditions are being dictated by a roof and grounds keepers, I am able to guess what they may do. They may unleash a shower of nerds. Or they could make the players play in artificial snow. It really is up to them.
I would choose Houston in this game, mainly because my Dad likes them, and I have no other stake in this game.
Gametime forecast: 100% chance of dome meteorology. Should be 75 degrees throughout. No weather impact.
Washington is an absolute circus right now. They have basically lost all control of everything, and it’s all looking pretty crazy up there. Whether or not I am talking about the government or the Redskins organization is for me to know.
I’ll always take Miami to win this game. DC looks to be impacted by the same system that’ll be impacting the rest of the northeast with inclement weather, only it’ll be warmer here. Expect isolated showers, but nothing too crazy. Clouds will be hanging around, though.
Gametime forecast: Mostly cloudy, with a chance of rain. Temp around 75ºF. Weather impact: 3/10 because of a chance of rainfall.
Ahhh, another dome game! Domes are a fantasy football owner’s dream.
If you have a chance to play some players in a dome game, you almost always have to take that opportunity. It won’t come around every week!
The weather outside doesn’t matter at all. What matters is really up to the grounds crew. If they want it to be 100ºF, then it will be. If they want it to be the second Ice Bowl, they can probably do that too! Odds are, though, it’ll be comfortable. GO RAMS!
Gametime forecast: Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. Temps right around 75ºF all game (probably….). No weather impact.
And then there is San Diego. San Diego has some of the best weather in the entire world, and this continues into football season. It is basically like forecasting for a dome, but on a bit of a larger scale.
Some models are depicting a very hot game, but some are depicting a cooler (relatively speaking) game. I am gonna side with the latter, but just a few degrees cooler.
Gametime forecast: Sunny, with a temp right around 84ºF, falling into the upper 70s by game’s end. Weather impact: 2/10 because of potential heat.
New Orleans @ Arizona; 3:05 PM
Ahh, the annual match up between two dome teams is always nice to see. I really like to see two of the easiest teams to forecast for matched up because it’s always gonna help you forecasting.
I will root for Arizona because I kinda like them for some reason. I feel like it dates back to when they played Pittsburgh for the Super Bowl several years ago, and I rooted for them then. I don’t typically root for Cardinals in anything, but they’re the exception.
Gametime forecast: Awesome. It’s in a dome; it can’t really be anything other than awesome. No weather impact.
This is one that I have major stake in with my own fantasy team, and will lose either way, really. I have Peyton Manning as my QB and the Raven’s defense as my defense.
How does that happen, you may ask? You can also ask me why it’s a bad idea to draft almost a whole roster. Don’t do it. Trust me. Weatherwise, it is actually looking really hot out that way for the game. Though it’ll be very sunny out for the majority of the game, Denver looks like they’re gonna see unseasonably high temps for gametime, which will somehow lead to me ending up with negative points for the week.
Gametime forecast: Hot and sunny, with a temp around 89ºF. Weather impact: 6/10 due to heat.
I hope that none of you have any players from Oakland. I really hope not. You are looking at this if your team has more than one:
Ironically enough, I actually have one. How nice. My season is gone at this point. Anyways, back to meteorology. First of all, it doesn’t rain in California anymore (not entirely true). So, you don’t really have to worry about that. Secondly, it looks really hot that day. The models are pointing toward this, while they sit under a ridge of high pressure dominating the region.
Gametime forecast: Sunny, and hot. Temp around 85ºF. Weather impact: 5/10 due to heat.
Tennessee @ Tampa Bay; 3:25 PM
This is the battle of the two rookie QBs that everyone wanted. You have Marcus Mariotta on one side, and Jameis Winston on the other. Both are great QBs, and both are gonna have good careers.
However, only one team can win, unless there is a tie. I am hoping for a tie.
Tampa is looking to have similar weather to that of Jacksonville. They’ll be impacted by the same cold front, but it looks as if shower activity will be a bit more limited there. Highs will be warm, under mostly cloudy skies.
Gametime forecast: Mostly cloudy, with isolated showers possible. Temperatures around 86ºF. Weather impact: 2/10 due to a chance of rain, and warm temps.
The Jerry Jones Dome will be operating nicely for this game. Full of energetic people, just waiting to be redeemed for the Dez Bryant controversy that ended their season last year.
As with all domes, you know the drill. It’ll be warm enough to keep everyone happy, and cool enough to keep everyone happy. Domes. Domes. Domes.
Gametime forecast: A cowboys loss. No weather impact.
Monday, September 14th
Philadelphia @ Atlanta; 6:10 PM
Oooooo another dome game. I am always excited to do one of these after 5 forecasts for 5 different cities, but once you get to them, there isn’t much left to say that hasn’t already been said about them.
Sooooooo, you are left with coming up with ridiculous circumstances that involve an alien abduction, or a sighting of Santa, or something crazy like that. None of that will happen this game. It’ll be perfectly normal.
Gametime forecast: Two birds, clashing in a dome. Only one will come out victorious. No weather impact.
Minnesota @ San Fransisco; 9:20 PM
Finally, an actual forecast. This is a while away, so hopefully I can nail down about what is gonna happen in San Fransisco that day.
Since we have already established that it really doesn’t rain there ever, we can eliminate that from being a substantial possibility. Temps actually look really nice as well. This is almost like forecasting for a dome. It’s San Diego of the north.
Gametime forecast: Mostly clear, with temps right around 70ºF. Weather impact: 0/10.