Winds of more than 40mph predicted for day one of Glorious Goodwood

Those donning the famous Panama hat for the opening day of Glorious Goodwood may need to keep a close eye on their headgear, with strong gusts forecast at the track for much of Tuesday.

A mixed day of weather could be in store for the first afternoon of the five-day fixture, with sunshine and thundery showers also featuring in the forecast.

There is a divergence of opinion on just how windy it could be on the Sussex Downs, with the BBC forecast predicting gusts of up to 41mph – within the range that caused Cheltenham to announce an inspection before the second day of this year's festival – while other forecasts suggest speeds of between 20-35mph.

Met Office meteorologist Helen Roberts said on Monday: "We will probably see gusts of about 30 to 35mph from 9am until 4pm. They will be on-and-off with a mean wind speed of 15 to 20mph coming from off the sea in a southerly direction."

Assessing general conditions, Roberts added: "There's the risk of heavy, possibly thundery, showers but they could be to the north or east. It is forecast to be a sunny morning then clouding over. It should be quite a dry day but with the risk of thundery showers."

Clerk of the course Ed Arkell is not overly perturbed by the forecast, and added: "It is certainly going to be windy and we'll keep it under review. We're aware of the situation and don't envisage any problems as the forecast stands.

"A nice sunny day is forecast today and then tomorrow there are showers about. They're fast-moving and isolated, and they could be heavy or they might be light. We might get them or we might miss them. It's one of those quite difficult situations.

"The going is good and the GoingStick is 7.5. The track looks really well and I'm really pleased with it."

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