Heat to Ease for Tour de France on Sunday Despite Rain

By Kristina Pydynowski, senior meteorologist

July 4,2015; 2:00PM,EDT

The 2015 Tour de France kicked off on Saturday amid heat and thunderstorms. While the heat will ease by Sunday, the potential for rain will linger.
Utrecht, Netherlands, hosted the start of Saturday's Tour de France, marking a record sixth time the Netherlands hosted the sendoff.
Utrecht normally boasts comfortable temperatures for cyclists and spectators with a high around 20 C (70 F) common in early July. However, such temperatures on Saturday were recorded early in the morning before soaring up to the lower 30s C (90 F) in the afternoon hours.
A few showers and thunderstorms peppered the Netherlands and surrounding countries, but much of the race remained rain-free on Saturday.

Sunday is likely to be more active in terms of showers than Saturday's thunderstorms, but that will lead to a reduction in heat for the second half of the weekend. Temperatures will range from the middle 20s C (upper 70s F) inland to the lower 20s C (lower 70s F) closer to the coast.
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While the threat is low, a few rumbles of thunder cannot be ruled out. As soon as thunder is heard, the threat of being struck by lightning is present.
"The rain from any thunderstorm will also have a huge impact on the remainder of the time trials," AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey said.
"Time-trial bikes are designed to do one thing -- go straight as fast as possible. They already have compromised handling due to frame geometry and ride position," he said. "Any water on the course is almost certainly going to change rider strategy and slow [the cyclists] down, or at least force them to take risks."
Cyclists and fans will once again be faced with the prospect of rain for Stage 2 on Sunday, which runs from Utrecht to Zélande. The danger of thunderstorms will diminish as the race heads eastward toward Zélande into a more stable air mass, but showers will still threaten to dampen the course.

Global Weather Outlook

Much better weather then awaits the race on Monday with an area of high pressure in control. Dry weather will prevail, humidity will be comfortably low and temperatures will rise into the middle 20s C (upper 70s F).
With abundant sunshine overhead, spectators and cyclists will definitely want to apply sunscreen or grab a hat before heading outdoors on Monday.
Thunderstorms may return as the cyclists enter France on Tuesday, but there are no signs of the intense heat making a comeback during the middle and latter part of next week.

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