Heavy rain disrupted the first-ever Korean Grand Prix last year.
While practice and qualifying were run in dry conditions, a massive downpour on race day caused the start to be postponed.
Almost half the race was run behind the safety car. The race took over two-and-three-quarter hours to complete and darkness had begun to fall at the track by the time the scheduled 55 laps were run.
The forecast suggests rain could return this weekend but it is more likely to be wet on Friday instead of Sunday.
However the prospects of rain are receding. Renault’s Alan Permane said this morning: “Our weather guru is saying that things are looking better for tomorrow. Most of the rain will pass to the south. Still a chance of a wet first practice.”
Dry conditions are expected during Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures around 20C on Saturday and slightly cooler the day after.
Conditions will get windier on the qualifying and race days, with winds of up to 20-25kph expected.
Location of Korean International Circuit
View F1 race locations 2011 in a larger map
2011 Korean Grand Prix
Image © Motioncompany
Eggry (@eggry)
13th October 2011, 9:49
Friday rains, Saturday and Sunday would be sunny. I use Korean national whether forecast. I think this is the most reliable one.(not so reliable though…)
Eggry (@eggry)
13th October 2011, 9:50
oh, it’s weather! not whether!
butterdori (@butterdori)
13th October 2011, 10:36
Actually, the Korean weather service is surprisingly inaccurate. Best rely on other sources.
JCost (@jcost)
13th October 2011, 10:57
You can’t be serious!
Eggry (@eggry)
13th October 2011, 11:22
@butterdori I’m sure you’re Korean, right?
BigD
13th October 2011, 21:24
I will second that ;)
Chris Yu Rhee (@chris-yu-rhee)
14th October 2011, 3:57
Korean weather forecasters are notoriously wrong. So much so that there have been national uproars by business owners over bad weather forecasts that kept people at home during holiday weekends-weekends that turned out to have beautiful weather.
I’ve lived here for a longgg time.
Eggry (@eggry)
14th October 2011, 7:34
However it’s more accurate than other forecast. You know what I mean? I don’t believe national forecast so much but I don’t believe Yahoo weather or Google weather at all about Korean weather. It’s not so accurate but the most accurate one.
Eggry (@eggry)
14th October 2011, 7:35
also, I’ve lived hear since I was born :)
Chris Yu Rhee (@chris-yu-rhee)
15th October 2011, 16:58
The Weather Underground has satellite maps, raadar maps, and unusually accurate forecasts around the world.
Here’s the link to Mokpo forecast;
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=mokpo
I use them exclusively when checking out weather before we go camping, and we camp A LOT all over Korea.
Chris Yu Rhee (@chris-yu-rhee)
15th October 2011, 17:01
It’s “whether” when discussing whether the meteorologists have had too much soju the night before.. LOL
Craig
13th October 2011, 14:21
This is good news – i certainly couldn’t be bothered with a repeat of all the crying we got from the drivers last year.
Their tears just made the track even wetter.
Mike (@mike)
13th October 2011, 14:41
(Ignoring that it was prompted by the championship situation at the time.)
Fixy (@)
13th October 2011, 16:16
I liked the chaos and the unexpected result, and I fear without rain the race could not be too exciting – of course the track is relatively unknown and dirty.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
13th October 2011, 19:35
Look at how North Korea is just a desolate land on that map…spooky!
Anyways, back to the point at hand. I would always prefer a dry race but I will admit that a wet qualifying certainly livens things up.
Craig
13th October 2011, 21:20
Yes Bernie – get your sprinkler out!!
Chris Yu Rhee (@chris-yu-rhee)
14th October 2011, 3:43
There is a picture on the net of the Korean peninsula at night. North Korea is completely black, while you can see lights all over South Korea.
When we drive up the West coast near N. Korea, I tell my kids that the land they see across the ocean without trees or foliage of ANY kind is N. Korea-it’s that barren.
Chris Yu Rhee (@chris-yu-rhee)
14th October 2011, 3:39
It’s Friday morning in Incheon, and it’s raining…