Ted S. Warren
Eagles and Patriots are familiar with the cold that will surround Super Bowl LII.
- The weather forecast for Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis shows that this year's game will be the coldest one ever.
- The Eagles and Patriots have the fortune of playing indoors at the new US Bank Stadium.
- Super Bowl VI in New Orleans was the coldest Super Bowl played outdoors with a temperature of 24 degrees Fahrenheit.
While the players are huddling to call a play, football fans will be huddling together for warmth.
Minneapolis, Minnesota will be hosting the Super Bowl on Sunday and the forecast looks cold. According to The Weather Channel, Minneapolis will have a high of 8 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 0 on Super Bowl Sunday. This will make Super Bowl LII the coldest one on record.
The Southeast Regional Climate Center at UNC keeps track of the weather for certain American sporting events and has kept records for every Super Bowl.
During Super Bowl VI - played in New Orleans - the temperature hit a low of 24 degrees Fahrenheit. The SERCC says that this 1972 game was the coldest Super Bowl ever played outdoors.
Luckily, this year's game between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will be played indoors in a climate controlled environment - better than a blistering cold for players and spectators. The Super Bowl will be held at US Bank Stadium which has a permanently closed roof.
US Bank Stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings who narrowly missed out on the Super Bowl by losing to the Eagles in the NFC Championship. The facility will also hold this summer's X Games and the 2019 NCAA Final Four.
Prior to this year's, the coldest Super Bowl played indoors was at the Pontiac Silverdome - former home of the Detroit Lions - in Michigan. Super Bowl XVI had game day temperature ranging from a low of 5 degrees to a high of 16.
This Super Bowl will be the second one played in Minnesota. In 1992, Super Bowl XXVI was played indoors at the now demolished Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. Outside that day, the temperature reached a high of 26 degrees and hit a low of 7. The SERCC also recorded 10 inches of snow outside the dome for that Super Bowl.
US Bank Stadium has a fixed roof, as opposed to the Metrodome's retractable roof which stayed close when it hosted the big game.
Super Bowls have generally been played in the south US where winter weather is less severe. Miami and New Orleans have each hosted 10 Super Bowls and the big game came to Los Angeles seven times.
The furthest north an outdoors Super Bowl has been played was in East Rutherford, New Jersey - home of the NFL's New York Jets and New York Giants. When the NFL awarded Super Bowl XLVIII to the New York Metropolitan area, the idea of playing the game in severe weather conditions was met with great skepticism. Mother Nature played nice and the temperature at kickoff was 48 degrees.
This Saturday may have some snow showers but there is only a 10% chance of precipitation on Sunday. Only two Super Bowls played outdoors have seen snow, according to the SERCC.
The highest temperature recorded during a Super Bowl is 82 degrees, occurring once in Los Angeles and once in San Diego.
Next year's Super Bowl will be played in Atlanta's new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This year's game will air February 4 at 6:30 pm on NBC. Justin Timberlake is returning as the headline act for the Super Bowl halftime show.