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Bathurst 1000 weather: mostly dry with slight chance of a shower

Anthony Sharwood

Mild and mostly clear weather is expected for the Bathurst 1000 this weekend on the iconic Mount Panorama circuit on the fringe of the large NSW Central Tablelands town of almost 40,000 residents.

As any local and anyone who has ever visited the race knows, Bathurst can throw up just about any sort of weather in spring – from searing heat to frosty nights.

It even snows occasionally on the mountain in winter and while snow has never fallen during the race, October snowfalls have been recorded to similar elevations at nearby locations (the track’s elevation ranges from about 690 to 860 metres above sea level).

The weather this year?

  • In short, daytime temperatures will be baby bear's porridge – not too hot, not too cold, with maximums around 19°C on Saturday and 21°C on Sunday.
  • Nights will be typically cool for October (when the average minimum is 6.3°C) with a low of 7°C on Saturday morning and 4°C on the morning of the race on Sunday.
  • As for rain, Weatherzone meteorologists put the chance of precipitation at 30%. While it will be relatively humid and intermittently cloudy with the chance of fog or low cloud in the morning, any showers that do fall should be light, and are most likely in the morning or later in the afternoon.

So in short, any rain that does fall at this year's Bathurst 1000 shouldn’t affect spectator comfort or the condition of the track to any significant extent.

The two key blocks of time in this year’s great race are:

  • Sunday 11:30am to (approx) 6:15pm: the time of the actual race
  • Saturday 5:05pm to (approx) 5:50pm: when top ten shootout takes place (a one lap time trial for grid positions)

The timing of this year's race is actually quite fortuitous, with showers likely for several days in the Bathurst area from Monday onwards.

Rain will be welcomed by most locals. While Bathurst’s running average rainfall for 2024 to date is roughly on par with the long-term average, the last few months have all seen below-average rainfall as the graph below shows.

While the immediate surrounds of the Mount Panorama circuit always have a greenish tinge at this time of year due to springtime growth, the grass will soon turn yellow unless significant rain arrives. That could be as early as the coming working week.

Our Bathurst forecast page is here.

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