Weather Watch: Football Season – Six Months Of Weather Extremes

Football and Soccer are about the only two sports mostly played outside during the most extreme weather the summer and winter can bring. For football, summer practices usually begin in July or August with the playoffs lasting into December. Professional teams play through January. Climate wise, August usually brings the hottest temps of the year and January the coldest although right in the middle of football season, you usually find the most perfect weather of the year during the fall.

During my days in middle school and high school, I attempted to participate in all the sports offered. My two older, more athletic brothers who came before me unfortunately set the bar a little too high. The coaches quickly found the perfect place for me–usually on the bench. While my playing time may have been limited, my exposure to the harsh weather extremes was not.

Baseball was my favorite sport but never made the team. I did run track, play basketball and football. During high school I only played soccer.

Soccer outdoors during windy and cold winter days were brutal with only shorts and a jersey as your uniform and football pads and helmets in August were equally as brutal. I dreaded football practice in August. I remember the salt tablets we had to take because of extreme sweating along with the long line for the water fountain. The fastest were always there first. I really thought I was dying of thirst hoping they wouldn’t drink all the water up. I don’t ever remember being more thirsty.

These days, coaches put great concern and interest in the safety and well being of their athletes. Dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be life threatening. Practices are sometimes moved to the pre-dawn hours of the day to avoid the heat during the hottest part of the afternoon.

It’s hard to find records for the coldest and hottest high school football games played so I’ve had to look up some records from the NFL to see what kind of weather extremes the game has been played under.

The coldest NFL game ever played is commonly known as the “Ice Bowl”. It was the NFL championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. The temperature was -13 degrees with a wind chill of -48 degrees. The field was actually frozen over with ice. The players had no traction. This famous game is where the phrase “on the frozen tundra” came from. The Packers along with several other cold weather outdoor teams have since installed heating coils under the playing surface.

The hottest game ever played is less dramatic and not as well known, but the Green Bay Packers played the Arizona Cardinals in Arizona in 2003 with a game time temperature of 106 degrees.

Other memorable NFL games include snow, rain, wind and even fog extremes. Football is usually played in any type of weather except during severe thunderstorms where lightning is present.

One Salt Bowl that experienced extreme weather was the 2008 game when Tropical Depression Gustav brought 1.92 inches of rain on September 2nd and 4.38 inches on September 3rd to Little Rock, that’s over 6 inches of rain in less than 48 hours. I think some fans are still drying out from that game!

So the 6 months of football season sees just about every type of weather a full year would normally bring, but I think most would agree there’s nothing better than watching football on that perfect fall Friday night and Saturday afternoon.