The first men’s State of Origin match of 2024 between the New South Wales Blues and Queensland Maroons at Sydney’s Accor Stadium this Wednesday evening is likely to be a damp night out.

This will not come as a surprise to sports fans nationwide who have become accustomed to seeing cricket, rugby league and just about every sport played in Sydney impacted by rain.

Nor will yet another night of rain shock Sydney locals, who last week saw the city's main gauge at Observatory Hill tick over the 1000 mm mark four months ahead of schedule in what has been another very wet year to date.

The image below shows one model of accumulated rainfall in the three hours up to 10 pm, which is roughly the period between when most fans arrive and when the game ends.

The image is centred on Accor Stadium and as you can see, around 10 mm of rain is expected to fall. That will make for a pretty damp night for fans and players alike.

Drilling down further into the data, Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard says there’s a slightly higher than 50% chance of rain at kickoff, increasing to 80% by the end of the match There could also be afternoon or evening storms in Sydney.

The short version is that it will likely be wet in and around the Sydney region this evening so if you're heading to the game, be prepared.

The sounds of training ????#MadeForMore pic.twitter.com/t44R6jLmWn

— NSWBlues (@NSWBlues) June 3, 2024

You can keep track of the latest info for Sydney Olympic Park, including rain probabilities, here. And don’t forget to check the Weatherzone radar.

As for the winner of the game, we have no idea, but we can say that Sydney is well ahead of Brisbane in the rain stakes this year with around 1020 mm to date compared to 760 mm – although whether that constitutes a victory or a loss obviously depends on your preferences.