Melbourne Cup 2022 weather forecast, rain storm: Can bad weather cancel the race?
A TV reporter has shown just how wild the storm which hit Flemington was during a cross where she had to switch focus to hold on to her umbrella. See more pictures from the track.
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Wild weather has hit Flemington where it is raining sideways just hours out from the Melbourne Cup.
Umbrellas are the must-have accessory this afternoon with experts predicting hail could hit.
Rain is set to have a significant impact on race 7 with Cup favourite Deauville Legend unpredictable in the wet.
There have been some appalling Cup days over the years, remember 2017?
It was a miserable 14 degrees at 3pm as the race jumped.
It’s not looking much better for 2022 from a warmth perspective and rain-wise we could be looking at more water than 2017.
Tuesday is tipped to reach a maximum of just 14 degrees, which would make it the coldest Melbourne Cup since 1995.
The major downpour hit Flemington between 12.30pm and 1pm, causing the track to be downgraded from a Soft 5 to Soft 7.
ABC reporter Stephanie Ferrier was caught in the storm during a cross, doing incredibly well to stay composed as she almost lost her umbrella.
“I tell you what’s streaming at the moment,” she said during a cross, before her focus shifted to holding onto her umbrella.
She continued on once the wind passed a few seconds later: “What is streaming down at the moment is the water flowing down the gutters. It’s going all over my feet at the moment.”
thought you were about to Mary Poppins it out of there at one stage.. good save & great reporting (watched it by the fire) pic.twitter.com/pQzQWBdgLu
— Andrew Collins (@AndyCollinsSP) November 1, 2022
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According to the experts we’re about seven degrees down on the annual average.
“It’s going to be a very chilly and occasionally wet week, with temperatures five to six degrees colder than average for the time of year, much more typical of August,” Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said
“There will be enough rain in the lead-up to the cold outbreak to make the track at least soft, possibly heavy.
“Similarly, the grassy expanses of the Flemington lawn could tend to mud in patches and swallow up high heels.”
Cup Day temperature is floating between 13-15 degrees.
WOULD BAD WEATHER EVER CANCEL THE RACE?
It would take a lot for the Melbourne Cup meeting to be postponed with visibility and lightning the only reasons the jockeys wouldn’t ride.
Flemington’s Super Saturday meeting in March 2010 was abandoned due to a storm after the Newmarket Handicap was run.
The Australian Guineas and Australian Cup were put on the following Saturday’s meeting.
A Melbourne Cup has never been abandoned.
In 1976 a storm swept through Flemington yet the race was still run with jockeys caked in mud.
Racecallers couldn’t identify the runners until the closing stages. Jockeys though these days have greater respect for safety issues and often vote to abandon meetings due to visibility.
The other reason meetings have been abandoned have been due to high winds.
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