Hogs and Harvey: Weather could play a factor in Thursday's opener

Arkansas cheerleaders run through the rain prior to a game against Ole Miss on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, in Fayetteville.

— Forecasters say it's too early to know whether the remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey will affect Arkansas' season opener against Florida A&M in Little Rock on Thursday.

The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium. The National Weather Service forecast for that night calls for a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms, but that could change depending on the track of Harvey, said Michael Brown, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Little Rock.

Brown said the system could track more north into Oklahoma, northeast into Arkansas or east-northeast toward Mississippi. Forecasters will have a better feel for the trajectory some time Wednesday morning, Brown said.

"At this point there is a pretty decent chance that the storm will move into Arkansas, and if it does come Thursday there is a pretty good chance of rain Thursday night," Brown said. "That said, there is still a high uncertainty and it could go anywhere from Oklahoma to Mississippi, and if it goes that route we probably aren't going to see much rain.

"If we do get rain, it probably would be around 2 inches or so; maybe worst case scenario 5 inches. Nothing extreme."

Brown said severe storms are possible with the remnants of tropical systems, but whether such storms could develop in central Arkansas on Thursday "ultimately is going to depend on the track."

Lightning would be a concern for the game. Southeastern Conference rules stipulate that a game must stop if lightning is spotted within 8 miles of a stadium and cannot resume until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike within the same radius.