[h=2]Rain could threaten shipboard Veterans Day game[/h]
By [EMAIL="
[email protected]?subject=Question%20from%20NavyTimes.com%20reader"]Gidget Fuentes[/EMAIL] - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 8, 2011 15:03:42 EST
SAN DIEGO — A chilly rain might put a damper on the Navy’s plans to host the inaugural Quicken Loans Carrier Classic basketball game on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson on Veterans Day.
Weather forecasters say a cold front will swing into San Diego late Friday — but whether it will force the Division I game between the Michigan State Spartans and University of North Carolina Tar Heels to shift to Vinson’s hangar deck remains to be seen.
President Obama is expected to attend the game, which will start just after 7 p.m. EDT on a makeshift basketball arena on Vinson, which is berthed at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif.
“It looks like it will come in Friday night — late Friday night — and last most of Saturday,” National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Harrison said Tuesday morning. “They may avoid the bad weather, but it is still kind of far out” to predict the exact timing.
“If the latest models continue, it looks like it’ll be a good precipitation event,” Harrison said.
The stormy weather will move from the west into San Diego and across Southern California and dump some measurable rain through the night Friday and into Saturday morning, with rain heavy at times. Rain will linger into the afternoon Saturday before clearing by Sunday. Temperatures will sink to the lows 50s.
The timing of the rain’s arrival will provide a challenge for the Navy, lead organizer Morale Entertainment Foundation and ESPN, which will televise the game. Organizers have sold or distributed 7,000 tickets to Vinson sailors, as well as fans of both schools. But if rain forces the game to be played in the hangar bays, a smaller crowd of perhaps 4,000 or 5,000 would be able to attend. It’s unclear at this point what will be the priority for hangar bay seating, which crews were assembling just in case rain forces the game under cover, a Naval Air Forces spokesman said Tuesday.
“We are all watching the weather very closely,” said Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW/AW) Dave Nagle.
Tipoff for the game will be at 7:15 p.m. Friday EDT. The decision to go to Plan B will be made either late Thursday or early Friday, Nagle said.
Rain on Saturday doused workers as they assembled the bleachers and the wood playing surface on Vinson’s flight deck. The next few days will be sunny and warmer before the front moves in Friday.
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