The Le Mans weather thread

[lowdrag]

delta0 said:

What are the campsites like at the moment? Are they mostly dry or is there lots of mud? Trying to decide whether to pack the wellies or not.

Edited by delta0 on Tuesday 12th June 23:35

It has been a month of the deluge, so the clay sites such as Beausejour will be boggy, but the sandy ones such as blue and houx will be fine.

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Read the post above yours. Today is a lovely day and any of the sandy soil sites will be fine. The clay-based ones boggy. The current forecast has changed to showers Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but as we have often seen it can be very wet at Mulsanne and dry elsewhere. Localised showers.

[lowdrag]

I've lived at Le Mans for 20 years, so know them pretty well, Besides which I was at Beauséjour yesterday and passed by The Blues, and the Houx. Parts of Beauséjour are very wet, and the far end on the right, which I didn't see but know, will probably be virtually unusable. For the rest no problems, but I do not know Epinettes at all.

[lowdrag]

Well, it rained a bit this morning but it has in the main been a lovely day. Long may it continue! To explain how bad it has been though, the town of Beaumont sur Sarthe north of Le Mans has had 30% of its annual rainfall in three days.

Edited by lowdrag on Wednesday 13th June 16:45

[lowdrag]

Since we are now only a couple of weeks from the Classic the weather forecast is really heating up, with 30C here most of next week and 28C on the
Thursday of race week. So - be prepared! Rain may be a nuisance but serious sunburn can put you in hospital.

[lowdrag]

You're lucky it isn't this weekend! Have a look here:-

http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-france...

It's changing rapidly, since this morning it was thunderstorms tuesday through Thursday, so hkeep an eye on the situation. Thsi weather station is next to the aerodrome.

[lowdrag]

Will the weather be catastrophic accompanied by caterwauling or will it be categorically catapulting us into a cataleptic catharsis?

And did you know that there is only one three letter word starting with cat?

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Just south of Le Mans last Friday the Tour Auto guy were racing on a circuit covered in hail. Hope that isn't an omen!

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shagamus said:

"Solid rain" being like day and night for four days? That sounds ugly. How close to race day does it
have to be before the forecasts begin to have some credibility?

Yesterday is the answer. In fact, I have even known them forget to take down the - wrong - forecast for yesterday. We are far too far away for any forecast (except the cat's of course) to have any real meaning but I suppose that the local station at the aerodrome should be the most accurate. You will start to see some meaningful predictions in a week or so. At the moment we seem to be in for sunshine and showers, but who knows? It can change for the better.:-

http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-france...

[lowdrag]

Remember 2008? The storm hung over the circuit for hours, the fields and ditches were under water and even the circuit tunnels were full, yet at Family Village they had a little drizzle. I'm five miles from Mulsanne bend and we had nothing. Was it two years back it poured until Thursday and then was dry all weekend?

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Rumour has it that the cat is on strike for beter salmon.

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The weather shown above seems to underestimating somewhat. Sunday is test day and the local forecast is a mere 31C with the lowest up to the 9th being 23C and the 9th being 26C. The cat is hedging its bets a bit I feel!

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The local forecast has changed to showers and light winds from the 4th onwards but nothing catastrophic. It only predicts up to the 11th at the moment though.

[lowdrag]

Buried in Metéo France is a generalised idea for beyond 10 days and the prognostication is "temperatures above normal for the time of year". That'll be nice - warm rain then.

Edited by lowdrag on Friday 31st May 05:02

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Well, after the heat wave of this weekend (32C) the local weather seems now set fair from the 12th through the race. Bring the sun tan lotion! And thank you cat.

http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-france...

[lowdrag]

Well, after the heat wave of this weekend (32C) the local weather seems now set fair from the 12th through the race. Bring the sun tan lotion! And thank you cat.

http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-france...

And to whet your appetite here are a couple from yesterday:-

[lowdrag]

fatboy18 said:

I can confirm it was torrential rain at Le mans this morning, I was driving the Viper and the rear tyres were lifting off the roads due to the surface water!

Edited by fatboy18 on Monday 3rd June 21:31

That's the problem - localised showers. SE of Mulsanne we had a light shower monday morning, yet this morning it was pretty hard rain for a while. It makes for great racing though when the Mulsanne straight is dry and they encounter water at Mulsanne bend. A few years back there was water at Mulsanne and Arnage and carnage ensued.

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JT3K said:

It's lining up with the cat. Guess it all pends whether that high pressure bank kicks up and covers LM for the whole weekend? Just wish Gav would cover from Tuesday so we had an idea what to expect on arrival.

Well, as of now the forecast is risk of storms for Wednesday and Thursday (perfect for pitching the tents) and then dry and 26C. So wet practice and qualifying, then a nice day off, and hot but dry for the race.

[lowdrag]

Today we are trying our best to get the bad weather out of the way for you. 13C and heavy rain all day. But as from Thursday 13th they are saying clean and green all through the race weekend. Which is a lot better than this weekend for the 24 Hours of Golf at Mulsanne which is proposing a minimum of 9C during the night and showers.

[lowdrag]

Miguel visited us today with 50 mph winds and horizontal rain. It's gone now, but with the last week or so some camping areas may well be becoming a trifle moist.