Fans sit in the stands during a rain delay at the first round of play at Wimbledon, Monday June 26, 2006. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
Monday marks the beginning of the highly prestigious Wimbledon, one of the most important tennis tournaments of the year.
The contests traditionally last a "fortnight", or two weeks long. The event it self is actually a number of smaller event grouped into one tournament, with both men and women taking the court for both singles and doubles matches.
The weather plays a particularly important role at Wimbledon, because the playing surface consists of grass, not clay or an artificial surface, so the surface requires direct sunlight in order to be maintained.
In fact only one of the many courts, "Centre Court", has some sort of protection from the weather. A retractable roof was installed over the courts in 2009, with the intention of preventing delays to the more important finals. However, most of the courts are completely exposed to the elements.
Early in the tournament, when many of the outdoor courts are required, and any significant storm systems can cause significant delays, even pushing back the tournament multiple days if the weather is poor enough.
During the dates of the official tournament, from June 25th to July 8th this year, London averages 0.93 inches of rain. And England has been stuck in a rather wet pattern this June so far. The city, which normally sees 1.32 inches of rain over the entire month of June, has already seen 4.01 inches as of the end of the day Friday the 22nd.
Good news is that this years tournament has a good chance at at least starting off dry. While a shower will be around each day during the first couple of rounds, any activity should be light and cause minimal delays.
In the long term, things look slightly more uncertain, as a storm system will approach England sometime late week, perhaps bringing more consistent rainfall to the area, and providing the chance for some delays.
Make sure to check the AccuWeather.com forecast for London to keep up on the latest forecast for the tournament.
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| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | N/A | |
| Low | N/A | |
| Precip | N/A |
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