Temperature's Tee-to-Green Impact

The Masters Tournament weather looks spectacular through Sunday with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures, but that hasn't always been the case, especially in recent years.

The 90th edition of The Masters, one of professional golf's four major tournaments, tees off Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club and continues through Sunday afternoon.

The Forecast

You couldn't draw up a better weather forecast in spring in the Southeast.

High pressure should remain in control in Augusta throughout the tournament, with plenty of sunshine, low humidity, no significant chance of rain, and daytime highs rising from the 70s in the early rounds to the mid-80s this weekend.

While there may be some breezy conditions, we're not anticipating winds will be strong enough to be a headache to the golfers, or those watching in the gallery.

(FORECAST DETAILS: Augusta, Georgia)

How Often Does It Rain?

A completely dry four-day period during The Masters hasn't happened too often.

According to data compiled by the Southeast Regional Climate Center, 16 of the 89 years had no precipitation on the days of the tournament. That last happened 15 years ago, in 2011.

Another 12 years had only a trace of precipitation the entire period, last occurring in 2017. However, 2017 had its litany of other weather issues that we'll cover later.

Admittedly, I found this a little surprising, given the propensity for spring thunderstorms in the South.

While Augusta doesn't have large variations in average precipitation month-to-month, April is its third driest month, behind only October and November, according to data from NOAA.

April precipitation is 28% less than March, and about 39% less than its wettest month, June.

A typical April has 22 days without any measurable precipitation in Augusta.

Recent Weather Headaches

But spring weather in the Southeast isn't always just blooming azaleas and sunny skies.

Last year, rain and thunderstorms suspended a Monday practice round. Fortunately, some showers held off until overnight Thursday night into early Friday morning, avoiding the first two rounds of 2025's tournament.

2024 wasn't so lucky. Rain delayed the first round by 2 hours. Then, wind gusts up to 43 mph blew sand out of some bunkers, forcing golfers, caddies and fans to shield their faces from the blowing sand. Those nagging winds would linger through the weekend.

2023's tournament started with beautiful weather. But then Friday and Saturday's rounds were suspended several times as over 2 inches of rain drenched the city over that two-day period.

If that wasn't enough, three large trees fell around the 17th-hole tee box that Friday just as a weather delay was announced. Fortunately, it dried out by Sunday to allow the tournament to wrap up on time.

In 2017, while the tournament itself was dry, severe weather forced the cancellation of the Par 3 contest — usually held on a Wednesday — for the first time in its history.

Then, nagging wind gusts over 30 mph challenged golfers in the first two rounds. And low temperatures plunged into the 30s both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Masters Weather History

Only five Masters tournaments were so weather delayed they had to finish on a Monday. That hasn't happened since 1983.

Here are some other weather extremes during the tournament, according to the SERCC:

-Hottest day: 92 degrees on Friday, April 7, 1967

-Coldest morning: 26 degrees on Sunday, April 8, 2007

-Wettest day: 2.67 inches of rain on Saturday, April 7, 1973

-Wettest tournament: 3.23 inches of rain fell in 1936

The 2007 tournament mentioned above was particularly cold and raw.

Despite sunshine, afternoon temperatures for the third round Saturday were stuck in the mid-40s to low 50s with wind gusts up to 33 mph, according to the SERCC. Augusta's average high this time of year is 77 degrees.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.