WEDNESDAY:
We’ll start off the day at 8:00 am chilly and very windy. Daytona Beach, including the track, will be under a Wind Chill Advisory through 9:00 am as we could see wind chill values in the 30s. Winds will be out of the north thanks to a low that is parked off of the east coast of the Florida Peninsula and could gust as high as 30 MPH at times and averaging 15-20 MPH. Skies will be mostly cloudy throughout the day and we could see a few light rain showers or sprinkles in the area at any time, due to the close proximity of the low, which includes on-track times (12:30 pm to 3:30 pm EST). The temperature will start off around 42 degrees at 8:00 am and will only warm to around 58 degrees for the high. The good news is that the chance of rain is less than 20%.
THURSDAY:
A totally different day as the wind will have died down to more manageable speeds and temperatures will be much warmer. We still could possibly have a stray light shower or sprinkles cross over the track as the low finally starts to move away from the coast, enough to warrant a 20% rain chance at this point. Skies will continue to be mostly cloudy and winds will be out of the northeast to east at 6-12 MPH. The temperature will be around 57 degrees at 8:00 am and climbing to around 71 degrees for the high, then steadily falling to around 62 degrees at 9:35 pm EST, completing the on-track activities.
FRIDAY:
A cold front will be swinging through the deep south that will increase the chance of rain during the day, but not by much. Most of that looks to occur during the morning hours ahead of the front with another increase in chances with the frontal passage around the end of on-track activities at 7:15 pm EST. Temperatures will be around 58 degrees at 8:00 am, warming to around 74 for the highs, and steadily dropping to around 64 degrees at the final checkered flag for the day. Winds will be out of the southwest to south at 5-10 MPH.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY:
The good news is that there looks to be no rain on Saturday or Sunday for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Any shower activity will be out of the area well before sunrise on Saturday and skies will be in the process of clearing throughout the day. The 8:00 am temperature will be around 56 degrees and warming to around 65 degrees for the drop of the green flag at 1:35 pm EST. Temperatures will steadily drop underneath clear skies, reaching around 49 degrees at midnight, and eventually dropping to 45 degrees for the early morning low on Sunday morning. Skies will remain mostly sunny throughout the morning and into the early afternoon hours on Sunday with temperatures reaching around 61 degrees for the drop of the checkered flag at 1:35 pm EST. Winds will be out of the northwest to west-northwest at 5-10 MPH throughout the race.