10:15 AM | *It’s time to “Play Ball”…well, maybe…Mets, Phillies, and Orioles home openers on Thursday afternoon are in serious jeopardy*
Paul Dorian
The forecast map for late tomorrow afternoon by the 12Z NAM is not encouraging at all for the Mets, Phillies and Orioles who have their scheduled home openers in the afternoon. The likely outcome in all three cities is for a one-day postponement of the openers to Friday. Map courtesy NOAA, tropicaltidbits.com
Overview
It is one of the best times of the year when you hear the phrase “Play Ball” and “Opening Day” comes tomorrow in many cities including New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Unfortunately, the weather will not cooperate with damp and cool conditions up and down the Atlantic seaboard putting the home openers in serious jeopardy for the Mets, Phillies, and Orioles. Low pressure is to form later today along a stalled-out frontal boundary zone and the result will be occasional rain or drizzle in the DC-Baltimore-to-Philly-to-NYC corridor from later today into tomorrow afternoon. Dry conditions are expected on Friday in each of these cities and with an open day in the schedule, it may be very tempting to simply postpone the openers by one day. If, in fact, these openers are postponed as I do believe they will be then they would quite likely be done officially as early as this evening.
Quite a decent rainfall coming to the eastern seaboard between now and tomorrow evening and this includes the I-95 corridor (purple regions represent 2+ inches of rainfall). Map courtesy NOAA, tropicaltidbits.com
Details
The Mets are scheduled to open the 2024 season against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday afternoon at 1:10pm in New York, the Phillies against the Braves at 3:05pm in Philly, and the Orioles against the LA Angels at 3:05pm in Baltimore…and all three games are in jeopardy due to expected damp and cool conditions. A cold frontal system is slowing down today as it reaches the eastern seaboard and this will allow for a low pressure system to form along the frontal boundary zone. This low pressure system will enhance upward motion along coastal sections and the I-95 corridor and the result will be occasional rain or drizzle from later today into tomorrow afternoon and some of the rain can be heavy at times. There is an outside chance that the rain ends by the scheduled mid-afternoon starting times in Baltimore and Philly (unlikely to be over with in NYC as of 1:10pm), but with the open day on Friday and dry conditions expected, it will be awfully tempting to just postpone the openers for one day and this same scenario actually took place last year in Philadelphia.
It is very unlikely that the sky will look like this tomorrow afternoon in South Philly…good chance for a postponement of the home opener to Friday (and likely to be some sun on Friday). Image courtesy phillies.com.
On Friday, the frontal system along the coast will kick out to the east to the western Atlantic, and drier air will push into the Mid-Atlantic region. Plenty of sunshine is likely on Friday, however, it will be on the cool side with afternoon highs confined to the 50’s. The wind will be a noticeable factor on Friday from a northwesterly direction and gusting to 35 mph or so.
Whether it is tomorrow or Friday, it’ll be great once again to hear the phrase “Play Ball”.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com