Seahawks Playoff Forecast: Very Wet Field Expected

On Saturday at 1:30 PM in Santa Clara, California, the Seahawks will play the 49ers in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs…and weatherwise, it’ll feel more like Seattle than California.

This blog will give a forecast for game time and the conditions prior to the game. Conditions prior to the game are important because Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara has a true grass field, which will get quickly saturated with heavy rain.

This is different than Lumen Field in Seattle, which has a turf field that will get slippery but not super wet & muddy in rain.

Let’s start with the rain forecast. Below is the HRRR forecast for rain through 7 PM Saturday.

The value for San Jose is very close to Santa Clara. A strong front will move through before the game begins, with 0.4-0.7 inches of rain in a few hours and winds gusting 30-45 mph. Another 0.1-0.3 inches is possible in post-frontal showers during the game.

The high-resolution NAM forecast agrees with the HRRR on the rainfall through 7 PM Saturday.

The NAM agrees, with 0.4-0.8 inches of rain at Levi’s Stadium.

With a consensus of 0.4-0.9 inches of rain prior to kickoff and the potential for brief heavy showers during the game, it is likely that the grass field will be in poor condition prior to the game.

During the game, after the front has gone by, there is a chance of brief heavy showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in those heavy showers. Below is the NWS Storm Prediction Center thunderstorm outlook for Saturday.

There is a chance of thunderstorms for most of Central and Northern California on Saturday. 

So…expect a very wet field, in-game showers and winds gusting 15-25 mph, and even a slight chance of thunderstorms for the Seahawks game on Saturday. Go Hawks!