How will the weather affect Penn State football fans this weekend?

Penn State football fans planning to watch the Nittany Lions take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at Beaver Stadium on Saturday can expect to get wet.

AccuWeather is calling for a 93 percent chance of rain throughout the day until the evening hours.

“There’s a storm that’s now centered in the southern states and it’s going to track northeastward through the day Saturday along the East Coast,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brian Wimer said. “That’s going to bring a shield of rain through the entire Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. And with the clouds and rain, it’s going to be chilly as well.”

Wimer said the rain is expected to start around 7 or 8 p.m. Friday, just as high school football games are kicking off, then pick up overnight and into the morning hours. By Penn State’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff, the rain will be lighter, and maybe even a drizzle, but still pretty consistent throughout the game.

Early tailgaters, though, can expect a good soak, Wimer said.

During the game, Wimer said to expect temperatures of 42 degrees and a light breeze coming from the north to northeast, averaging 7-14 mph.

The rain is expected to taper off during the evening, and Sunday should be mostly dry, with the possibility of a stray shower, Wimer said. Overall, the State College area is expected to see 1 to 1 1/4 inch of rain from Friday evening into Sunday morning.

Parking

In anticipation of wet conditions, Penn State has restricted parking on its grassy RV lots around the stadium.

Yellow Lot 12, the Orange Preferred Car, Brown Preferred and Family Friendly lots all will be closed on game day. Fans are encouraged to carpool and avoid bringing an RV, unless parking on a paved lot.

“Intercollegiate Athletics utilizes several intramural fields for football parking and this week’s rain will continue to cause more damage to the fields with fall intramural sports still in progress for Penn State students,” the university said in a release.

Those who usually park in the Yellow Lot 12 will be redirected to Lot 11, and then to the East Deck, Nittany Deck or Red A, while those on the Brown and Orange lots will have their permits honored at Innovation Park, Grange Park, Nittany Parking Deck, Red A and in all Yellow lots, other than Lot 12. Fans who park in the Family-Friendly lots can park in the Yellow lots.

Those who park at Innovation Park can take a free shuttle to the stadium starting at 11 a.m. and going until 45 minutes after the game. RVs are not permitted there.

Blue, Orange and Purple grass RV lots will be closed to RVs, but those with permits can park there with cars. The overnight RV lots are open, but parts may not be parked on, due to ground conditions.

ADA parking in reserved spaces or paid lots will not be affected. For all others, White ADA parking will be redirected to the Lewis Katz Building, and Green ADA parking to Pegula Ice Arena, the Intramural Building and the Nittany Lion Softball Park, with complementary shuttle service.

For real-time parking and traffic updates, fans can check the interactive map at GoPSUsports.com/footballmap, gopsusports.com, @GoPSU Sports on Twitter or on local radio stations 1450 AM, 93.7 FM or 970 AM.

Game day, season and overnight RV permits are all sold out for the season, but car parking is still available in Beaver Stadium lots for $60 on game day.

Travel

The wet conditions could also affect travel into State College on Saturday.

“It’s certainly going to be wet for drivers coming pretty much from any direction, but the heaviest rain by morning would be coming from north and northeast of State College,” Wimer said.

He also said fog can be expected on the ridge tops and a low cloud ceiling could affect air travel.

This story was originally published October 26, 2018 at 3:12 PM.