How Does Weather Affect Betting Results

Weather consists of the environment and usually we go about our daily business looking for a living without necessarily having to halt our operations. Good thing for us in Africa, we don’t have to stress on the weather report unless it’s raining or a thunderstorm given the numerous days of sunshine we receive annually.

In sports betting, majority of punters ignore the possibility of change in weather affecting the final results of a sports event, with some events being canceled and as a result a bet may become invalid. Majority of bettors in Nigeria fail to take notice that some of the markets offered in sports are played in different parts of the world, especially in Europe and therefore have different conditions during the day or night.

The idea here is to keep an open mind and understanding how the weather affects betting, will help you to winning more bets.

Low or high temperatures affect performance

The human body like any other mammal has its limits and usually cold weather affects how a player runs or shoots the ball in football. Despite this being a problem for the majority of players especially from tropical areas or hot continents like African, players from low temperature areas like the steel traps of wintry Moscow in Russia have adapted to playing in the snow or cold conditions and thus making them adapted, therefore hard to lose in such conditions.

Defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester city) plays with gloves during winter matches, due to extreme cold conditions and as a result his performance is affected. Cold weather puts more stress on the heart, muscles become less efficient and as a result there is increased metabolism. It’s also common for players to get injured due to pulled muscle as a result of muscles cooling faster while taking longer to warm up.

Too much heat is also a common problem in football among other physical sports and players are in danger of suffering heat strokes, extreme fatigue and as a result players yield during the game is greatly affected.

Rainy or Dry conditions affect performance

By now, as a punter you’ve obviously  seen the occasional sports events where the sky opens up in the middle of a fixture. Rain causes players to make more mistakes than during dry conditions. Defenders or the goalkeeper may slip, while making tackles causing a defensive mistake or a bad foul and in many cases rainy conditions make it hard to score. Since more effort is required to actually shoot the ball, reducing number of passes or shots on target.

Hence players will tend to play in a conservative way avoiding tackles or shooting to conserve energy since wet pitch conditions making it hard on the bodies of player requiring more energy to move around the football pitch. On the other hand, dry weather conditions make it easier for players to grip the ground and therefore they can easily move around, increasing their performance.

World class players have been known to break records during good weather conditions, running faster, scoring more and even boosting moral during the match, with players becoming committed or confident.  

Influence of wind and fog or mist

Remember seeing the odd appearance of a red or yellow ball in a December Premier League match. This is due to the prevailing snowy conditions during that time and in other countries as well. Heavy fog presence reduces visibility to almost zero therefore leading to cancelation of matches and therefore rendering your bet void.

Understanding the weather before it happens reduces chances of losing a bet but despite having weather forecast at your fingertips it’s hard to predict the final outcome and may change form time to time depending on the environment. Wind is another great enemy that can favor one or destroy. Fast winds make ball movement hard and can even change the trajectory of a ball that was going for goal.

Heavy windy conditions reduces efficiency of goalkeepers since the ball may be moving in one direction then without warning change direction.

Effects of atmospheric pressure

The higher the altitude the lower atmospheric pressure, players  coordination is affected and thus poor performance. Despite this disadvantage the local home team are well adapted with their team performing better than guest  who are yet to adapt to change in weather and cannot keep up with the low blood pressure.  

Sports events you should take weather into account include:

Football

The most watched event in the world and are affected directly by changes in weather in Africa most games are played in the afternoon with most Nigerian teams playing better in calm climatic conditions and any change in weather may disrupt normal conditions of play.

However, the home team is advantage in that change in temperature, atmospheric pressure or humidity is not seen as a problem and betting on the home team is considered wise since the visitors are trying to adapt to the new environment.

Tennis

If you’re a tennis fan, you must have seen the happenings at Wimbledon 2021 where the rain caused elite players like Serena Williams to slip in the heat of the moment. This is almost similar to football in that the higher the humidity the faster the game is with both players moving easily in the court.

The high temperature changes the endurance mode of players and blowing wind can also affect serving of the ball in most case the player behind the wind direction has the power advantage. Despite majority of games being played outside their some countries that have built huge stadiums to accommodate outdoor games like football, tennis among many others and players are well protected from the changes in climate.

Tips and tricks when betting

• Bet on the home team, most of the time teams traveling away from their continent are doomed due to change in climate and are 43% more like to lose due to the weather.
• Check on the climate of the area. Seeasons are important indicators to betting an area that is used to extreme cold may take time in adjusting to season change.
• Look at weather forecasts as a tool and not an influence towards your bet choice, it will help you in avoiding a potential loss.
• Be cautious with weather when it comes to international ties like world cup events since African countries like Nigeria during qualifiers face climate change as they move to other countries to compete.
• Get a reliable weather forecast

A serious bettor will take advice from a serious weather forecast site and it’s considered a vital tool when betting. Getting that edge could be the difference between a win and loss. Nowadays we have a lot of information at the touch of a button and the internet provides information needed.