This week, the IndyCar series heads to Circuit of the Americas…to help you prepare, here’s a look at how the weather may impact this weekend.

THE WEATHER: The system I’m keeping an eye on is a fairly slow-moving, but weak, cold front that is currently due to sweep across Texas over the weekend. This will serve as the triggering mechanism for increased cloud cover and the development of rainshowers and thunderstorms. On Friday, I’m expecting mostly sunny (and dry) conditions for all track activity, with clouds increasing in the late afternoon as that system approaches from the west. In the late evening/overnight, we should see a few showers and thunderstorms firing as that cold front enters the Austin area. This sets up Saturday as the most likely day to see some precipitation, with cloudy conditions, scattered showers and the occasional thunderstorm. Some showers may still be lingering in the area on Sunday, but they appear more isolated in nature and will be of the short-lived, hit-or-miss variety…so I’m less concerned about rain during the race, but not ruling it out completely at this point.

FOR FANS: If you’re the type that shows when gates open, pack a light jacket as the 8am temperatures will be in the low-mid 50s on Friday and Saturday (overnight cloud cover will keep temps from dropping headed into Sunday, with lows staying in the 60s). If the jacket doubles as some rain protection, all the better, but tossing a poncho in the backpack is a good call at this point, particularly for Saturday. I will point out that this is NOT a washout forecast by any stretch…and having personally endured a solid soaking rain at COTA in the past (and the muddy mess it can make for some of the viewing areas)…this is not the same weekend set-up. Suncreen up on Friday, and possibly Sunday if clouds move out earlier than anticipated. One additional consideration, there are limited hard-covered structures suitable for protective cover once you venture beyond the main straight area…so keep an eye on the radar (primarily Saturday) in the case of lightning encroaching the vicinity of the circuit and be thinking of your personal protection plan in the event you need it.

FOR DRIVERS: The tough part will be a combination of changing conditions for each day, which with challenge decision-making on a final race set-up. Friday’s practice sessions will be under sunny skies, with dewpoint temperatures at their lowest (i.e. less humid) and not really representative of conditions the rest of the weekend. Cloudy weather Saturday combined with the occasional wet track, will suppress track temps during qualifying. Finally, Sunday will wind up being the most humid, warmest and windiest of the three days.

Friendly reminder: I don’t actually see into the future, so the farther out the forecast is, the more prone it is to change. You can stay up to speed on the latest conditions by checking in on my twitter feed, @Indycar_wxman, throughout the week. Enjoy the race weekend!