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Kansas City Chiefs insist Fans pack up Meteorologists are predicting a brutally cold Saturday night as the team prepares to face the Miami Dolphins for game day at Arrowhead Stadium.
A combination of freezing temperatures, powerful winds and heavy snow is expected to chill much of the United States This weekendThe two teams are set to meet in the AFC Wild Card Round in Kansas City, Missouri, in what could be one of the coldest NFL games on record.
Tonight's game starts at 7pm CT. According to CNN Weather, the air temperature at kickoff is forecast to be around 0 degrees Fahrenheit and a bone-chilling -22 degrees.
Winds of 15 to 20 mph throughout the game, with gusts as high as 40 mph adding to the misery. At the end of the game, the air temperature will drop to -2 degrees and the wind chill will be as low as -23 degrees, meteorologists said.
Current high temperatures are expected in Kansas City on Saturday about 5 degrees, According to the National Weather Service, it was the coldest high temperature recorded in the area for the date, according to CNN Weather.
Kansas City's current record-coldest high temperature is 9 degrees on January 13, set in 1982.
Meteorologists predict”dangerously cold” weather in the Kansas City area through next week.
Fans struggling to stay warm in the stands on Saturday are allowed to bring blankets into Arrowhead Stadium, where warming stations and hot chocolate will be available. According to the chiefs.
“Visitors who are not properly bundled will be at significant risk of frostbite. It will take about 30 minutes for frost to occur in the wind chill near the forecast,” said CNN meteorologist Mary Gilbert.
But could the officials be cool enough to call off the showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins? According to NFL communications director Tim Schlitner, the NFL has never canceled or postponed a game due to low temperatures.
“There is no temperature limit for cancellation/postponement,” Schlitner told CNN in an email.
However, dangerous blizzard conditions forecast for the Northeast this weekend led to the postponement of another AFC Wild Card Round matchup – the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Buffalo Bills.
The NFL cited “public safety concerns in light of the ongoing weather emergency in Western New York” for moving that game from Sunday to Monday in a statement. The decision was made in consultation with New York Governor Cathy Hochul, the NFL said.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the area through Monday.
“I have been in contact with @NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the dangerous conditions in Buffalo this weekend” Hochul wrote in X. “In consultation with our emergency response teams, @BuffaloBills leadership and the NFL, the Bills game will be postponed until Monday at 4:30pm.”
Conditions for Saturday's Chiefs-versus-Dolphins game will be cold, but how does the weather compare to past games?
Bettman Archive/Getty Images
Green Bay Packers fans cheer on their team at Lambeau Field during the 1967 NFL Championship game.
The coldest game in NFL history took place on New Year's Eve 1967, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, according to the NFL.
According to the NFL, the air temperature that day was -13 degrees, with a wind chill of -48. The weather at the NFL championship game was so cold it was nicknamed Ice bowl.
“The air felt like being in a meat locker,” former Packers fullback Chuck Merzin told the NFL.
“If you looked in the stands, all you saw was steam coming out of people's mouths,” Mercein said, the NFL reported.
The 1981 AFC Championship Game, held on January 10, 1982, was noted as such. Freezer bowl Because of sub-freezing game day temperatures, according to the Cincinnati Bengals' website.
Gerry Wolter/The Cincinnati Enquirer/USA Today Network
Linemen for the Cincinnati Bengals, left, and the San Diego Chargers line up in sub-zero temperatures during the AFC Championship Game on January 10, 1982.
Amid an air temperature of -9 degrees with a wind chill of 59 below zero, the team defeated the San Diego Chargers 27-7 at the Bengals' Riverfront Stadium in Ohio.
On January 10, 2016, the Seattle Seahawks won 10-9 against the Minnesota Vikings in one of the coldest games in the NFL.
Air temperature for 2015 wild card gameHosted at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, while the Vikings' current indoor home at US Bank Stadium is still under construction, the -25-degree wind chill dropped to -6 degrees, according to the NFL.
Subzero temperatures didn't stop the New York Giants from defeating the Green Bay Packers 23-20 in overtime at Lambeau Field in Wisconsin on January 20, 2008.
Jeff Roberson/AP
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning during the NFC Championship football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008.
The teams competed in the NFC Championship that day amid an air temperature of -1 degrees below zero with a wind chill of 23 degrees below zero. According to the NFL.
Here's how NFL teams react when snow or cold weather is expected ahead of games.
Each home club requires a snow removal plan, and according to the NFL's game operations policy manual, snow and ice must be removed from the fields before each game.
“This applies to the ground, stands/seats, aisles, walkways, parking lots etc. It also applies to side areas,” the manual said.
The league's policy is that if there is a chance of rain, the fields must be tarped the day and night before the match.
According to the league's rules, “if weather dictates, heated benches must be available to both teams and must be activated two hours prior to kickoff”.
CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward contributed to this report.
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