CNN –
The Kansas City Chiefs are urging fans to bundle up for game day at Arrowhead Stadium as the team prepares to face the Miami Dolphins, with forecasters predicting brutally cold conditions Saturday night.
With a mix of freezing temperatures, strong winds and heavy snow expected to cool much of the United States this weekend, the two teams will meet in the AFC Wild Card Round match in Kansas City, Missouri, in what will be one of the coldest NFL games be of all time.
Today's game begins at 7:00 p.m. CT. According to CNN Weather, the air temperature at kickoff is expected to be around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of a bone-chilling -22 degrees.
Sustained winds of 15 to 20 mph and gusts of up to 40 mph during the game will only add to the misery. By the end of the game, the air temperature is expected to drop to -2 degrees and the wind temperature is expected to be around -23 degrees, meteorologists said.
The high temperature expected for Kansas City on Saturday is about 5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which would be the coldest high temperature recorded in the region that day, according to CNN Weather.
The current coldest record temperature for Kansas City on January 13th is 9 degrees, set in 1982.
Weather service forecasters are predicting “dangerously cold” weather for the Kansas City region through next week.
Fans struggling to stay warm in the stands on Saturday will be allowed to bring blankets into Arrowhead Stadium, where there will be warming stations and hot chocolate, according to Chiefs officials.
“There is a significant risk of frostbite for spectators who are not properly wrapped up. “It takes about 30 minutes for frostbite to occur when winds are near forecast,” said CNN meteorologist Mary Gilbert.
But could it get so cold that officials might cancel the showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins? According to NFL communications director Tim Schlittner, this is unlikely because the NFL has never canceled or postponed a game due to low temperatures.
“There is no temperature threshold for cancellation/postponement,” Schlittner told CNN in an email.
However, dangerous snowstorms predicted for this weekend in the Northeast led to the postponement of another AFC Wild Card Round game – the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Buffalo Bills.
The NFL, in a statement, cited “public safety concerns given the ongoing weather emergency in Western New York” for moving the game from Sunday to Monday. The decision was made “in consultation with” New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the NFL said.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the area through Monday.
“I spoke with @NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about the dangerous conditions in Buffalo this weekend.” Hochul wrote about X. “In consultation with our emergency response teams, @BuffaloBills leadership and the NFL, the Bills game is being postponed until Monday at 4:30 p.m.”
Conditions will be icy for Saturday's Chiefs vs. Dolphins game, but how does the weather compare to previous games played in extremely cold conditions?
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Green Bay Packers fans cheer on their team in the 1967 NFL Championship Game at Lambeau Field.
According to the NFL, 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, the air temperature that day was -13 degrees with a wind chill of -48 degrees. The weather at the NFL championship game was so cold that it was nicknamed “The Ice Bowl.”
“The feeling in the air was like a meat locker,” former Packers fullback Chuck Mercein told the NFL.
“If you looked in the stands, all you could see was steam coming out of people’s mouths,” Mercein said, according to the NFL.
The 1981 AFC Championship Game, held on January 10, 1982, was dubbed the Freezer Bowl due to subfreezing temperatures on game day, according to the Cincinnati Bengals website.
Gerry Wolter/The Cincinnati Enquirer/USA Today Network
Cincinnati Bengals (left) and San Diego Chargers linemen line up in subzero temperatures during the AFC Championship Game on January 10, 1982.
With an air temperature of -9 degrees and wind temperatures of 59 degrees below zero, the team defeated the San Diego Chargers 27-7 at the Bengals' former home stadium, Riverfront Stadium in Ohio.
On January 10, 2016, the Seattle Seahawks won 10-9 against the Minnesota Vikings in one of the NFL's coldest games ever.
The air temperature for the 2015 Wild Card Game, played at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis while the Vikings' current home stadium at US Bank Stadium was still under construction, dropped to -6 degrees with a wind chill of – 25 degrees, according to the NFL.
On January 20, 2008, freezing temperatures didn't stop the New York Giants from beating the Green Bay Packers 23-20 in overtime at Lambeau Field in Wisconsin.
Jeff Roberson/AP
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning during the NFC Championship football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, January 20, 2008.
According to the NFL, teams competed in the NFC Championship that day in air temperatures of -1 degrees and a wind chill of 23 degrees below zero.
This is what NFL teams do when snow or cold is expected before games.
A snow removal plan is required for each home club, and snow and ice must be removed from stadiums before each game, as outlined in the NFL's Game Operations Policy Manual.
“This applies to the field of play, stands/seats, aisles, pedestrian ramps, sidewalks, parking lots, etc. This also applies to the sidelines of the field,” the manual states.
League policy is that if there is a risk of precipitation, fields must be covered with a tarp the day and night before a game.
“If weather warrants, heated benches must be available to both teams and activated two hours prior to kickoff,” league rules state.
CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward contributed to this report.