The NFL and NCAA Football seasons have finally begun. It seems like an eternity waiting to watch your favorite team hit the field for another year of excitement or the agony of defeat. Although many teams have covered stadiums, there are several that still play in the elements. Weather can play a huge role in the outcome of games. Snow, rain, wind, fog, and temperatures can contribute to turning a game around in a heartbeat. Here are a few past games.

The Virginia Tech game, on August 27, 2000, was eventually cancelled due to thunderstorms and heavy rain. Just before game time, thunderstorms moved into the area with lightning all around the stadium. Eventually, one bolt struck a car in the parking lot and heavy rain commenced. It’s ironic that the cover of the August 14th issue of Sports Illustrated had a picture of quarterback Michael Vick, “Mr. Electric”, with a lightning bolt in the background.

The Redskins have had several memorable weather-related games. One occurred on December 16, 1945, the Redskins were playing the old Cleveland Rams on a cold and very windy afternoon. The game time temperature was eight degrees and the wind was blowing at 20-30 mph. The quarterback, Sammy Baugh, threw a pass from deep in his endzone and the wind blew the ball into the goalpost. It was ruled a safety and the Redskins lost 15 to 14.

The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers probably played the most widely remembered weather-related game in the history of football on December 31, 1967 on icy Lambeau Field. The “Ice Bowl” was appropriately named due to a temperature of minus 13 and a wind chill of minus 46 throughout the game. The field’s underground heating system froze and this led to a very icy field. The Packers led early, but the Cowboys came back to go ahead 17 to 14 on a Dan Reeves halfback option pass. The Cowboys eventually lost with 13 seconds left on the clock by quarterback Bart Starr.

The heroics of a snowplow driver decided one of the more humorous games. On December 12, 1982, the Miami Dolphins were playing the New England Patriots. Snow fell throughout the game and completely covered the field. Both teams had trouble scoring and the game went into the fourth quarter scoreless. New England was deep in Miami territory and was setting up for a field goal try. Mark Henderson, a snowplow driver on a prison work-release program cleared a path for kicker John Smith. The kick was good. Later in the game, Miami was setting up for a field goal, but Mr. Smith sat on the sidelines. The kick failed and New England won 3 to 0.

Another funny, if you’re not a Dallas fan, the game was settled by the weather in Dallas on November 25, 1993. This was Thanksgiving Day and the Miami Dolphins were in town. The normally mild late fall weather turned nasty as cold temperatures changed rain into freezing rain and sleet. This was the first snow/sleet that ever fell during a game at Texas Stadium and turned the artificial turf into a skating rink. Dallas was ahead 14 to 13 and Miami was ready to win with a short field goal. The kick was blocked and instead of letting the ball come to rest Leon Lett, of Dallas, tried to recover the ball. He lost it and Miami recovered at the one-yard line. They tried another field goal and won the game 16 to 14.

Monday Night Football has seen several weather-related football games. Probably the most famous was the blizzard that struck Denver during the game on October 15, 1984. Green Bay was in town and fumbled the opening kickoff in a blinding snowstorm. Steve Foley scooped the ball up and he ran it in for a touchdown. On the Packers’ second play from scrimmage, they again fumbled and Denver’s’ Louis Wright picked it up and scored another touchdown. Thirty-seven seconds into the game, the Broncos were leading 14 to 0. Six inches of snow fell during the game and the Broncos won 17 to 14. There were over 10,000 no-shows at the game. Fans started throwing snowballs at their own mascot.

A more recent Monday night game was dubbed “The Lake Arrowhead Game”. The Seattle Seahawks were playing the Kansas City Chiefs on October 4, 1998. Heavy rain began drenching the stadium around kickoff that lasted well into the first half. The game was halted with 7:10 to go in the second quarter due to lightning but was resumed almost one hour later. The field was literally a swimming pool covered by several inches of water. There were several deaths in the area with most linked to cars being swept off roads and bridges.

Michael Eckert

I grew up an Air Force Brat. Traveled the country and lived in Georgia, Maine, New York, Hawaii and Oklahoma.

I fell in love with the weather in Oklahoma. My father was transferred to Tinker AFB in 1973. While in Temporary housing (a mobile home, which is the standard in Oklahoma) I experienced my first severe thunderstorm with strong winds and hail the size of baseballs. The next day I was in the base library looking up books on weather. The rest is history.

I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1983 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Meteorology. The first two years we took Calculus, Differential equations, Physics, Chemistry and Computer science classes with the Engineering Students. It was a grind. My degree is actually from the College of Engineering. The last 2-3 year’s focus was on Meteorology including Observational networks (Satellite, Radar, Surface), Physics, Thermodynamics, Dynamics, Synoptic, Winter Weather, Severe Weather and Climatology.

My first job out of college was with a small forecasting company in Oklahoma City. I was immediately put on TV (OETA) and Radio (WKY) as their broadcast Meteorologist. After two years in broadcasting, I decided to pursue the National Weather Service route and got a position in Toledo, OH as an intern. After a couple of years, I was promoted to a forecaster position at the Cleveland Forecast office. I quickly moved into the Weather Preparedness position and was responsible for all the preparedness activities in the state of Ohio.

In 1992 I decided to pursue other forecast opportunities and moved to the Meteorological Operations Division of the National Meteorological Center in Washington, DC. This group is now called WPC (Weather Prediction Center). There I fine-tuned my forecasting of Synoptic Weather with my focus on Heavy Convective Rainfall and Winter Storms, under the supervision of Dr. Louis Uccellini. He has written several books on East Coast Winter storms. I was promoted to a Senior Branch Forecast position during my tenure at MOD. Part of my job was to teach weather classes at COMET (Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training).

In 2012 I was given the opportunity to start up a new weather support group with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) in Warrenton, VA at the ATCSSC (Air Traffic Control System Command Center). The ATCSCC is where the FAA identifies solutions to air traffic inefficiencies in the NAS (National Air Space) for the CONUS (Continental United State). Weather impacts are the biggest impact on Aviation with yearly losses over 20 billion dollars. My job was to help lower these inefficiencies/costs by providing weather impact briefings and forecasts in order to keep the air planes moving as safely and efficiently as possible.

I retired in 2022 and now am running Lake Anna Weather, LLC.