Hurricane Joaquin means wet weekend for East Coast football, baseball – SportingNews.com

Looks like another wet sports weekend for the Atlantic Coast states. Thanks you, Joaquin.

The real trouble, especially for football fans, begins Saturday. Hurricane Joaquin’s expected footprint includes Washington, where the Redskins are scheduled to face the Eagles on Sunday. Baseball, especially in New York; NASCAR, which is scheduled to run races at Dover, Del.; and college football are expected to see rain — possibly lots of it.

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Possible landfall for Joaquin on Sunday? Between North Carolina and New Jersey, according to Accuweather.com.

Sunday could be a miserable day in D.C., according to NFLWeather.com. In addition to rain, heavy at times, the temperature will be about 60 but humidity will be high and wind is expected to be strong, likely 30 mph.

Baseball’s final day of the regular season might be washed as well. In the target: the Mets, who face the Nationals on Sunday afternoon. In fact, with rain expected to begin Friday the whole three-game series is in jeopardy.

Other series that could be affected: Reds at Pirates, who are the wild-card race; and Marlins at Phillies, although both teams are playing out lost seasons.

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Expect a rainy college football weekend. Example: In the ACC, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest all have home games on Saturday. Rain and possible thunderstorms are expected on those game days.

Maryland, of the Big Ten, has a home game against Michigan at 8 p.m. ET Saturday night. Pack the rain gear, Terrapins fans.

The Big Ten Network decided to alter its Saturday plans, including live shows from College Park, Md.

“Given the threat of a hurricane hitting a large part of the Eastern seaboard this weekend, BTN has decided to postpone the planned broadcast Saturday of its football studio shows from outside Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium,” the network said in a release. “Safety concerns for crew and fans and the uncertainty surrounding the storm’s path led to the network’s decision. BTN will reschedule the visit for a later date.”

NASCAR is headed for Dover, where the third race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup is scheduled on Sunday. Rain was expected from Wednesday through race day. That threatens to wash Sprint Cup and Xfinity series activities. We could be looking at a Monday race instead. Consider this note from Dover track officials: “Historically, changes that NASCAR makes to the on-track schedule are not made until the day of each event.”

While the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series are in Dover, NASCAR’s trucks series in safely in the driest of locations on the racing schedule — Las Vegas.

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The second Atlantic storm to plague the eastern U.S. mainland this season, Joaquin is expected to swipe areas from South Carolina to Massachusetts. That means plenty of rain ahead for states north of Florida and east of the Appalachians.

Hurricane Joaquin became official on Wednesday. Be glad you aren’t in the Bahamas, where Joaquin was doing its worst.

A combination of winds from the west through the deep South and “steering” winds in the Atlantic will sweep Joaquin north from the Bahamas. Best case? Joaquin stays over the ocean, leaving only high surf and perimeter rain for the East Coast.

New York and New Jersey are bracing for a direct hit and remembering the impact of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. With rain and wind likely will come flooding of low-lying and coastal areas in the most populated areas of the East Coast, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. And that could include winds hitting 90 mph.

Joaquin strengthened on Wednesday and could become a major storm, but the forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center weren’t sure where it was headed.

“Additional strengthening is expected, and Joaquin could become a major hurricane during the next couple of days,” hurricane center officials said.

Joaquin is the third hurricane of the 2015 season. No hurricane has made landfall in the U.S. mainland since 2014, when Arthur struck North Carolina and moved up the East Coast.

Best known of recent storms, in part because of where it hit, was Sandy in 2012. That hurricane was a superstorm when if struck the New York metropolitan area. Sandy caused more than $70 billion in damage and left more than 120 people dead.

Swells are expected to hit Florida and coastal areas to its north on Friday.

But it’s the rain pushed inshore by Joaquin that will create problems for sports fans. Follow the Boys Scouts motto: Be prepared.