Wimbledon begins – but will the weather play ball?
It’s that time of year again when thousands of people swarm to SW19 and Wimbledon becomes a hive of activity for two weeks of action-packed tennis.
Mountains of strawberries, lashings of cream and gallons of champagne will be stacked up and waiting to be consumed, but there is one thing that is even more important than all of these combined – the weather.
Having been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon since 1877, Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. As you might imagine given the tournaments longevity, the weather has had its fair share of influence during the last 135 years.
No doubt you want to know what the weather will hold for the first week, and I’ll get onto that in a moment. But first of all, I’d like to take a quick look back and see how the weather has affected Wimbledon fortnight in the past.
Days which have been completely rained off
With a British summer renowned for a variety of weather conditions, you will probably be surprised to know that only 32 days have been completely rained off in 135 years – that’s an average of around a quarter of a day per tournament or one whole day every 4 years.
First weeks badly interrupted by rain
It wasn’t until 1971 that all courts had a cover available, and since then the first week of tennis has been badly affected by rain on five occasions – in the years 1982, 1985, 1991, 1997 and 2004 when only 42 per cent, 60 per cent, 58 per cent, 45 per cent and 72 per cent of matches were completed respectively.
Meetings extended to complete the programme
Since 1919 there have been 18 occasions when the meeting has been extended to complete the programme of tennis. Two of these were due to players’ commitments, but 16 were due to rain.
No rain during the meeting
According to the Wimbledon compendium, there have been six tournaments with no rain at all – 1931, 1976, 1977, 1993, 1995, 2010. 1976 was of course the year of the worst drought in living memory with much of the UK affected by a prolonged spell of dry weather.
So what does the weather hold for the first week?
Monday – a fine day is expected with a sunny spells and a gentle westerly breeze. The chance of a shower is 10 per cent, which effectively means it’s likely to be dry. Maximum temperature 21C. Grass pollen will be high and UV index moderate.
Tuesday – any early morning sunshine will rapidly be replaced by cloudy skies. As the cloud thickens towards lunchtime, there’s an increasing chance of some occasional mainly light rain or drizzle accompanied by rising humidity. Maximum temperature 21C. Grass pollen will be high and UV index low.
Wednesday – there’ll be quite a lot of cloud for much of the day with a few showers possible, but by no means raining all the time. Occasional spells of hazy sunshine are likely with a light to moderate breeze and feeling humid. Maximum temperature 24C. Grass pollen will be high and UV index low but moderate when the sun comes out.
Thursday – a very warm and muggy day with spells of hazy sunshine. During the latter part of the afternoon and early evening there is a chance of a thunderstorm which would give heavy downpours and a gusty wind. Maximum temperature 26C. Grass pollen will be very high and UV index high.
Friday – a cooler and fresher day with a brisk and blustery south westerly wind gusting 20-30mph. Showers are likely, especially around lunchtime, but with a brisk wind they should move through quickly with any interruptions to play fairly short. Maximum temperature 18C. Grass pollen will be high and UV index low.
Don’t forget you can get updates to the above forecast as the week goes on by visiting the Channel 4 Weather website. If you are at Wimbledon and a shower interrupts play then let me know and send a picture via Twitter – @liamdutton
Historical statistics courtesy of The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.