How Isaias, Severe Storms Could Impact Alabama-Georgia Despite Improving Forecast

The good news is that current forecasts place Tropical Storm Isaias moving out of Tuscaloosa before kickoff between Alabama and Georgia Saturday night.

The bad news: this thing is coming, and it ain’t slowing down.

Meteorologist James Spann appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show Wednesday afternoon to discuss the updated forecast for this weekend’s action.

“The thing is really getting its act together,” Spann told Finebaum. “This should be a hurricane by tomorrow morning, or maybe even late tonight.”

The most recent track of Isaias brings the storm right up onto the Alabama coast late Friday night as what Spann called a “fairly important hurricane.” The system’s peak wind velocity looks like it will top off at about 110 miles per hour.

Spann was positive about the forecast, however, noting that we’re not in as bad of a spot as we were when checking on the forecast yesterday.

“Yesterday, it looked like this was going to be a nightmare situation, with the main wind and rain impacting Tuscaloosa later in the day into Saturday night,” Spann said. “The good news, almost all the guidance really, really trend toward a faster solution with this thing moving faster.”

With the forecast looking more promising for Saturday night, things have trended in the wrong direction for folks who might be looking to tailgate or attend ESPN’s College Gameday, which is set to be broadcast live from the University’s quad at 8 a.m. CT.

“We now believe the primary threat- wind, rain, flooding, tornadoes in Tuscaloosa will be Saturday morning into early Saturday afternoon,” Spann said. “We are getting the idea that just maybe by kickoff, there’s a chance the widespread rain will be north of Tuscaloosa, and there could be a shower or two, but nothing like what’s going to happen Saturday morning.”

There is still no word on the status of Saturday morning’s pregame show, although the crew could be seen beginning to construct the gargantuan set on Wednesday. Spann noted that anyone out and about on Saturday morning could be in for some trouble.

“We’re going to have to be very careful with the tailgaters during the day,” Spann said.

This high-profile game has garnered the attention of some of the biggest names across the country, including its President, Donald Trump, who announced his intention to attend the contest last week.

He was asked Wednesday if he still intended to make an appearance and seemed not to yet know that there was a threat in the Gulf.

“We’ll have to see,” Trump said. “I hadn’t heard about a hurricane. Is a hurricane going in the vicinity of Alabama? That’s not good. Certainly, I will let the hurricane determine; I want people to be safe.”

Alabama’s head football coach Kalen DeBoer was also asked about the situation during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.

“[I’m] just updated on where things stand if there’s anything that needs to be adjusted, but I haven’t heard anything recently,” DeBoer said.

He also discussed the potential impact that weather of this magnitude could have on the game, should the worst-case scenario ensue.

“Depends on the level of weather you get,” DeBoer said. “It’s just not my area of expertise. I’m just getting our football team ready. It hasn’t affected us much, other than doing wet ball drills and getting wet ball involved in some of our team reps.”

He added that the team had prepared in a similar fashion last week when it looked like the game at Mississippi State could be a wash.

As for the possibility of postponement or relocation, it seems like that decision would come on Thursday once the forecast becomes clearer; however, it appears that everything possible is being done for this football game to be played on schedule inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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