The Weather in Monaco
As pointed out by both Lou and Steven in the comments, long range weather forecasts are predicting rain for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Now these things are normally somewhat inaccurate, but it is raining there right now and weather.com has showers listed for both the Saturday and Sunday of next weekend.
Accuweather is even predicting thunderstorms on Sunday! In short it looks like it could be wet.
Of note, by all accounts Thursday is looking dry, and this is important because in Monaco free practice happens one day earlier than at any other race on the calendar.
I’m sure no-one needs reminding but that means:
on Thursday 22nd May.
Christine will no doubt be fleeting between home and her office throughout the day, but I’ll be sitting in front of the screen poised and waiting.
Whatever happens with the weather, I’m sure the whole event will be brilliant, and I’m already feeling a touch excited by the prospect of a return to the principality. Incidentally there’s a whole discussion going on in the Facebook group on this very subject, so if you haven’t already voiced your opinion feel free to jump right in.
Additionally, if you spot anything interesting relating to weekend, weatherwise or otherwise, do let us know in the comments below and shout if you’re planning to be around Thursday morning for the first practice session.
May 18th, 2008 at 12:14 amlou said:
I forgot about that!! OMG YAY!!! I have no exams on thursday! ahahahah i can watch it!!!
wonderful! so i will be around on thursday! yay i can watch all coverage of the monaco gp weekend. I like study leave. Can you tell im excited 
May 18th, 2008 at 12:16 amme said:
i can, glad you can make it
May 18th, 2008 at 12:19 amlou said:
I don’t think i have seen a live practise since Malaysia, and cause im on study leave i don’t think i will miss anymore for a while
May 18th, 2008 at 1:00 amScott Woodwiss said:
Monaco + heavy Rain + F1 cars + No TC = chaos theory? or a least a severe case of dodgems with the armco
You can bet anything I won’t miss free practice with you guys! Especially if the rest of the weekend will be a soaker!
May 18th, 2008 at 1:08 amScott Woodwiss said:
You know, my dad’s been to Monaco on holiday as a reward from work. He managed to walk the whole GP track
My mum was also going to go there on a business trip, but she fell ill just before she was supposed to go. And just a week or so ago, my mum’s boyfriend went to Monaco as well, and he managed to watch the Historic Grand Prix races!
Only thing which annoys me is I’m the only one left who hasn’t been….
May 18th, 2008 at 1:09 amme said:
at the very least the track should be green for each day
May 18th, 2008 at 1:11 amScott Woodwiss said:
And at the most, a car in the barriers at every corner
May 18th, 2008 at 1:11 amme said:
i’m sure when you do get to go, you’ll appreciate it more than all of them put together.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:14 amScott Woodwiss said:
Of course. I mean, my dad’s an F1 fan too, we both are, although I’d say I’m the one who looks around the websites more which makes me the slightly bigger fan
But he did say to me he has renewed respect for the guys who have to go round there at 160mph.
But yeah, I do want to go for the race of course. It’s one of the races I want to see at least once before I die. Although, I’ll probably only get to see it once, because it’s quite expensive as you know
May 18th, 2008 at 1:17 amScott Woodwiss said:
Oh and slightly off-topic, I checked the latest issue of F1 Racing in the shop today - my question to Sir Frank wasn’t picked
May 18th, 2008 at 8:51 amDan Brunell said:
Oh yeah, Monaco in the wet.
Regardless of the weather, we should start a Sidepodcast betting pool of who will be the first one out before every race.
I get dibs on Nelson Piquet jr.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:18 amChristine said:
What did you ask?
May 18th, 2008 at 10:42 amlou said:
Im gonna say Vettel, given the fact he hardly ever finishes the first lap anymore. But if its wet i think Massa will just panic and end up hitting a wall in all the chaos.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:55 amlou said:
“An officer in the British Security Service agency MI5 has been forced to resign after admitting his wife was one of the prostitutes who took part in the orgy with FIA president Max Mosley, according to a report in the Sunday Times.”
May 18th, 2008 at 11:05 amme said:
oh.great.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:09 amlou said:
lol.
There was i hoping that we could have a nice quiet season with no politics (unlike last year) with just good racing but its really not going to happen is it?
May 18th, 2008 at 11:21 amScott Woodwiss said:
OK, off the top of my head,I think I asked him:
“You’ve said you’re apposed to customer cars. Yet when your team first started, you actually used a customer chassis, did you not? Therefore, why are you so against them now when the very existance of your team is all down to one? Also, do you think Prodrive’s absence from this season is down to your opposement?”
Or something like that. I tend to have a good memory of what I ask and stuff.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:43 amScott Woodwiss said:
I’ve just had an idea. You know the thing on Facebook that gets us to match a driver to a song? Why not apply to the races as well! Here’s what songs make me thing of certain races:
Monaco - Curtis Mayfield “Move On Up”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTY6Nbl12ek
Also: Timbaland “Oh Timbaland” (When I hear this, I can picture an F1 car rushing down the hill to Mirabeau :D)
British - Republica “Ready to Go”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3BmxjhmN20
I’ll post some more in a bit. How about you guys?
May 18th, 2008 at 1:08 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Just going off-topic, I’m watching the Moto GP race at Le Mans, fantastic 4 way fight for the lead, and it’s only lap 5! Awesome.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:17 pmlou said:
Scott, you genius! ‘Move On Up’ really goes with Monaco!
Im not gonna be able to watch the race without thinking about that song now 
i have just had a 10 min session on youtube looking for clips etc and i refound this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg33tkyvG5A&feature=related its a good music video
well review of 2007 with music….
May 18th, 2008 at 1:21 pmme said:
bikes? pah, we don’t do two wheels.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:46 pmLynch said:
Rossi FTW! Hmm… you have to admit MotoGP is a tad more exciting than F1 regarding overtaking and stuff….
May 18th, 2008 at 1:48 pmLynch said:
Yeah, those review vids are quality, the 2006 one is good also,the pics go really well with the music…
May 18th, 2008 at 1:51 pmme said:
really, i have no interest in it at all sadly. tried watching a couple of races, but it did nothing for me.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pmlou said:
same, Bikes don’t really interest me, I can watch most other motorsports….just not bikes.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:58 pmShaun said:
Bet there isn’t a drop of rain on race day in Monaco.These forecasts are never right…
May 18th, 2008 at 2:17 pmlou said:
I have just checked…..rain is looking less likely on Accuweather.
May 18th, 2008 at 2:38 pmme said:
that’s rubbish
and one more
May 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pmlou said:
May 18th, 2008 at 3:09 pmlou said:
me/christine, any ideas when this weeks podcast will be out?
May 18th, 2008 at 3:19 pmme said:
i do yes.
May 18th, 2008 at 3:22 pmlou said:
lol. erm right
….gonna tell me? 
May 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pmme said:
aww, okay then. at a guess i’d say 7pm this evening.
the show has been recorded, but christine has to master multitrack editing on a mac, and that’s a pretty steep curve with this show.
f1 minute and f1 digest are straightforward by comparison, and she’s had a week or so practice with those, but this is a whole other challenge and she’s working hard on it as i write.
May 18th, 2008 at 3:30 pmlou said:
wow that precise.
i was just wandering if it was today 
Thanks.
Sounds very complicated, i wish her the best of luck! and i look forward to listening
May 18th, 2008 at 3:40 pmlou said:
VEttel gets a nice new car, oh and a penalty
May 18th, 2008 at 3:42 pmlou said:
May 18th, 2008 at 3:44 pmme said:
yeah, that’s le seb’s fault. i think we discussed this during the show, so i’ll say no more.
May 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pmlou said:
May 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pmSteven Roy said:
Shaun’s right about the weather forecasts. The ten day forecast changes on a daily basis.
You should give Moto GP a try. It provides fabulous racing and Rossi is something very special.
May 18th, 2008 at 4:06 pmme said:
i have tried it (for three successive races in fact), and i still don’t like it.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:37 pmbrendan stallard said:
“oh.great.”
Moi,
Christine will be utterly thrilled
brendan
May 18th, 2008 at 8:37 pmLadySnowcat said:
Thanks for this… I have a busy week before going to the principality and was wondering about the weather and particularly what to pack….
This is tres helpful… except on this website for Nice Saturday looks dry…
http://www.weathercity.com/fr/nice/
I wonder….
PS Rossi is fantastic…the guy is very special indeed…
May 18th, 2008 at 8:38 pmbrendan stallard said:
“i have tried it (for three successive races in fact), and i still don’t like it.”
Me,
Have you ever ridden a bike with a bit of motion in it?
I think that does make a difference, of sorts, but I admit the modern bike racing world is a thing of astonishing angles to me….I have no idea how they get round those corners at those angles.
brendan
May 18th, 2008 at 8:55 pmAlianora La Canta said:
I will definitely be there for first practise, though how awake I’ll be is anyone’s guess - my Spanish listening, reading and writing exams are tomorrow, so we’re using the last Spanish class of the year (on Wednesday evening) year for a party. (And before “me” and Christine nag me, I’ve already done some revision and am relaxing in preparation for an early night…)
Scott, I foresee dodgems too. Last time there was a properly wet Monaco Grand Prix (1996), only seven cars were classified and three of those had crashed into each other towards the end…
Sorry to hear your question didn’t get picked, Scott.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:00 pmlou said:
GOOD LUCK Alianora!! I have my maths non calc tomorrow
and about 6 other exams throughout the week, although thursday is my day off (study leave) 
May 18th, 2008 at 11:10 pmme said:
yup, i rode (and very nearly died on) one of these:
http://www.minimoto.co.uk/
it’s not a sport for me. i can appreciate why some may enjoy it, in the same way that i appreciate some people enjoy freezing their nuts off watching rugby matches, but for me the concept holds zero interest.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Thanks, lou! Good luck with your battery of exams too
As for the Spanish listening/reading/writing, the listening paper was the easiest AS Spanish listening paper I’ve ever done, which was great - it’s the first time I’ve had one of those tapes and understood everything that was said… The reading was harder and the writing harder still, but I think I’ve come up with a decent answer to the questions asked.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pmlou said:
Thanks! lol yes i have 15 to go, by tomorrow evening it will be 12! which is a nice feeling and 1/2 term is next week, which is good. So your doing AS, you know the pain of the millions of GCSEs then
i hate those tapes, i do german and i always end up either laughing at the voices or getting very confused. 
I love it when a paper goes well
May 19th, 2008 at 4:40 pmAlianora La Canta said:
I can understand the stress of the GCSE treadmill, lou. Even though I was the one member of class who liked exams, I still thought twenty-odd in the space of four weeks was overkill. You just have to remind yourself that it’s worth it in the end when you get to do what you want with the results, and treat yourself to the odd biscuit and entertainment treat (the odd hour of The Sims for me in those days, a few posts on Sidepodcast for you
)
A-Level wasn’t much of an improvement - I once had 5 1/2 hours of exams in one day, which is not conducive to good concentration at the end, let me tell you…
The exam arrangements this year are a bit of a laugh - there’s a Spanish lesson scheduled for Wednesday evening despite the fact that everyone’s done the last exam for it already. The college’s argument is that we’ve already paid for a teacher and classroom time, so we’d better use it. Thankfully, college has given permission to use that time to have a class party, otherwise we’d be spending nearly three hours twiddling our thumbs…
May 19th, 2008 at 4:56 pmlou said:
yep
your right, i can see that its worth it, and im pleased it has finally started, and the fact i have noooo more coursework, which has been a real killer!
Ouch! painfull!
nice!
May 19th, 2008 at 7:35 pmAlianora La Canta said:
lou, I considered myself lucky that the 5 1/2 hour exam day was no longer - there’s a rule in the UK that if you have more than 6 hours of exams in a day, you have to go to a teacher’s house and have no contact with the outside world until you return to school/college the next day and finish the paperwork. Fortunately, the exams I had were Statistics 1, General Studies (Maths/Science) and Ethics in that order, so at least the exams themselves got easier for me as the day wore on.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pmme said:
now that it’s tuesday, the short range forecasts have been updated, and both weather.com and accuweather.com have rain for saturday / sunday.
still meaningless, but slightly less meaningless than before.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 amAlianora La Canta said:
I love that, me