Women's World Cup: Heat, thunderstorms among the risks for tournament's final matches

By Eric Leister, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

The final matches of the 2019 Women's World Cup are set to take place this weekend, and while the matchups are not yet finalized, the weather may play a factor in the outcomes.

After defeating England on Tuesday, the United States has advanced to the Finals and will take on the winner of Netherlands and Sweden, which will take place Wednesday night, local time.

This match is set to take place in Lyon on Sunday at 5 p.m., local time, and there will be a risk for a shower or thunderstorm during the match.

United States' players celebrate their victory against England after the Women's World Cup semifinal soccer match at the Stade de Lyon outside Lyon, France, Tuesday, July 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

While temperatures will hover around 30 C (86 F) at the start of the match, the combination of early July sunshine, humidity and light winds may result in an AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature at or above 32 C (90 F) early in the match.

Temperatures will slowly fall throughout the match; however, the risk for showers and thunderstorms will persist into Sunday evening.

While lacking the glamour of Sunday's Final, the Third Place Playoff match will take place on Saturday in Nice.

The match will be a face-off between England and the loser of the Semi-Final between Netherlands and Sweden.

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A muggy evening is expected in Nice, with temperatures slowly falling from around 30 C (86 F) at the start of the match to 27 C (81 F) by the late evening.

High humidity will make conditions uncomfortable for both players and spectators, with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures ranging from 31-34 C (88-94 F) throughout the match.

Such heat may trigger required water breaks, which are allowed by FIFA rules anytime after 30 minutes into a game played in extreme heat.

The threshold for extreme heat has been set at 32 C (89.6 F) on the wet-bulb globe temperature index. The wet-bulb globe temperature index is calculated using a combination of temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover.

Those same components are part of the equation used to calculate the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature.