Rain suspends French Open on Tuesday following first wash-out since 2000

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

May 31,2016; 9:24PM,EDT

 

 

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Rain suspended play at the French Open on Tuesday, one day after rain caused the first complete cancellation of matches since 2000.
Rain on Tuesday morning forced officials to delay the start of the day's matches. Play resumed shortly after 12:00 CEST, but more rain and delays followed with an eventual suspension was announced at around 19:00.
The match between Serena Williams and Elina Svitolina are among those that have been postponed until Wednesday.

Court covers were removed at the French Open on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, after rain delayed the start of the day's matches until shortly after 12:00 CEST. Another delay followed within the next hour. (Twitter Photo/@rolandgarros)
Wednesday will not be as wet, and the potential for rain delays will dramatically lessen. It will still be mostly cloudy with another shower or two, but most of the showers will occur during the morning. Any shower in the afternoon will be brief and light before more numerous showers will return in the evening.
Matches will go on if it's raining, as long as it's light rain, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.

"If the court is damp and cool, the court plays slower. Tennis balls get heavier and the overall conditions slow down," Rayno said.
After a cool end to May, temperatures will return to a more seasonable high of 20 C (68 F) on Wednesday.
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The threat for delays will remain low into Thursday as showers in the morning should clear Paris for the afternoon.
A stubborn storm system will keep northern France unsettled with a couple of showers into this weekend. There could be a brief delay, but any interruptions to play would be less than what the tournament faced earlier this week.
Spectators wait for matches to start for the French Open Tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Monday, May 23,2016, in Paris. Showers over Paris on Monday have forced the organizers to delay the start of play. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The rain that washed out play on Monday brought the monthly total in Paris to 170.2 mm (6.70 inches). According to data obtained from Météo France, May 2016 has surpassed May 1922 and its 132.7 mm (5.22 inches) as the wettest May on record.
Monday was the wettest day of the month with a total of 52.9 mm (2.08 inches) of rain.
"Monday's rain came from the thunderstorms in southwestern Germany on Sunday that rotated around an area of low pressure over Luxembourg," AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys said. The thunderstorms triggered devastating flooding in Germany.
While the heaviest rain has left Paris, Roys is concerned about river levels continuing to rise in the coming days.
"With the amount of rain that fell over the Paris region over the last 24-36 hours, rivers levels rose," he said. "And in areas that saw some of the heaviest rain between Orléans and Auxerre, rivers reached over their banks. This will travel northward towards Paris over the next couple of days."
Content contributed by meteorologists Eric Leister and Adam Douty.