Weather Forecast for Saturday’s Notre Dame Football Game in Blacksburg, Va.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Virginia Tech Hokies will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday amid cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 60s, according to the latest Accuweather forecast.

While it’s likely the Blacksburg area will see thunderstorms and rain prior to the game, the most recent prognostication says there’s a 20 to 49 percent chance of rain at kickoff in Lane Stadium and the surrounding area. That probability will remain fixed at 20 percent for the duration of the game.

Stadium parking opens at 7 a.m. for the hardcore tailgaters. If you find yourself there that early, the temperature won’t be much different. Expect a temperature around 63 degrees, with it sliding up to 66 by 4 p.m. Thunderstorms are expected, at this point, between 10 a.m. and noon with rain (minus thunder) anticipated between 3 and 7 p.m.

Football fans won’t experience anything close to Blacksburg’s all time high for Oct. 9. That was 87 degrees in 2007. (Funny enough, the lowest daily high temperature for that day was set five years later — a brisk 42 degrees!)

The last time the Irish visited Gobbler Country on Oct. 6, 2018, it was 71 degrees at the 8:21 p.m. kickoff.

Notre Dame sports a 14-0-1 record for games played on Oct. 9. They last played that day in 2010, when Brian Kelly’s first team hosted the Pittsburgh Panthers. It was 83 at kickoff in Notre Dame Stadium that day. They were last on the road for an Oct. 9 game in 1971, when Ara Parseghian’s Irish blanked the Miami Hurricanes, 17-0, at the Orange Bowl. It was 84 degrees during the 8 p.m. kickoff.