Posted on 12/12/2010 6:25:36 AM PST by raccoonradio
St. Paul, Minn. — The snowstorm that dumped more than 20 inches of snow on parts of Minnesota brought down the roof of the Metrodome on Sunday morning.
Witnesses, including the security director at the nearby Holiday Inn Metrodome, said the roof is no longer visible above the dome's concrete bowl.
"We went up to the 14th floor to look at it. It looks kind of like a big dish of sugar," the director, Chris Cowles, said.
Sunday's Vikings game against the New York Giants had already been rescheduled for Monday night.
Officials from the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission could not immediately be reached for comment. On Saturday, facilities and engineering director Steve Maki told the Star Tribune there was no structural issue occurring at the dome from the snow.
Maki told the newspaper crews had planned to go back up on the dome's roof Sunday morning to remove snow.
If the dome did collapse from Saturday's storm, it'd be the first time since the 1980s that that's happened.
TIME TO DIG OUT
The giant winter storm had moved out of Minnesota by Sunday morning, but dangerous wind chills moved in to replace it. The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory for a large swath of the state, including the Twin Cities and Duluth. A blizzard warning remained in effect for southeastern Minnesota.
Minnesotans, many of whom were forced to stay home Saturday because of snow-clogged streets and no public transportation, are digging out.
Snow totals reached 20 inches in some places. Shakopee received the most snow with 21.5 inches. Everywhere else in the Twin Cities area received at least 10 inches.
Must be that global warming again.
Darn global warming. The game was supposed to be played tomorrow night instead of today, with Fox doing coverage for the Minn. and NY markets only—what now?
Union made?
I’m not sure how much more of this global warming we can stand.
Algore was sighted near Minneapolis?
Sucks to have season tickets for Minnesota this year.
Hmm, don’t know.
I know some games have gotten cancelled or moved when this sort of thing happens. One time in the 90s, IIRC, the Red Sox were supposed to play Seattle at the Kingdome but there was a roof collapse so the games were shifted to Fenway Park—and tickets were only $10, general admission—get there early for best seating.
I went to one of those games and I think the Mariners had a player who had just started out...Alex Rodrigues...
Photos???????
The owner, Ziggy Wilf, has been demanding a new stadium or he’ll move. I hope he has a good alibi.
With all due respect to those in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, why are locals and the Star Tribune acting surprised that it’s snowing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrodome
The Metrodome, or Homerdome as some called it. The Twins now play at Target Field.
>>The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, is a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The football playing field has been known as Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome since October 2009.[3] Opened in 1982, it replaced Metropolitan Stadium, which was on the current site of the Mall of America in Bloomington and Memorial Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus. The Metrodome is home to the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings...The stadium is 31 years old, making it the ninth oldest stadium in the National Football League
>>The stadium is well known for its fiberglass fabric roof that is self-supported by air-pressure. The Metrodome was also the second major sports facility to have a domed roof supported completely by air, the first being the Pontiac Silverdome. The Metrodome is similar in design to BC Place Stadium and the RCA Dome. The Metrodome suffered a collapse of its roof on December 12, 2010 because of the accumulation of over 15 inches of snow overnight
>>On November 19, 1981, a rapid accumulation of over a foot of snow caused the roof to collapse, requiring it to be re-inflated. It deflated the following winter on December 30, 1982, again because of a tear caused by heavy snow. This was four days before the Vikings played the Dallas Cowboys in the last regular season game of the 1982 NFL season. That same winter, on April 14, 1983, the Metrodome roof deflated because of a tear caused by heavy snow and the scheduled Twins’ game with the California Angels was postponed. It was the only postponement in Metrodome history until 2007
You would not expect this in MN, where snow load is high on everyone’s mind. The engineers have to be sweating bullets, as does their bonding agent. Obviously it could also be faulty construction, but there is usually an engineer on sight for something that big.
more
>>The Vikings are thought to be the least hampered by their current situation in the Metrodome, but could move after their current lease expires, in 2011. An enormous market without a team exists for the NFL in Los Angeles. San Antonio has also been discussed as a possible site, during the years that San Antonio native Red McCombs owned the team, though the NFL Committee has never approved of these possible moves. A Los Angeles team would either require a new stadium, or major renovations to the Rose Bowl Stadium or Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Alamodome also is outmoded by current NFL standards, and would require major renovations....The NFL and fans have pressured Minnesota governments to finance a new, revenue-generating stadium. Downtown Minneapolis as well as the suburb of Blaine have been explored as potential stadium sites. The Vikings are seeking taxpayer subsidy of more than $300 million to assist in construction of the stadium, which may also be used for the many other events currently taking place at the Metrodome.
Years ago we were driving up to Minnesota from Texas and ran into the the “October blizzard.” It was awful. The roads were snow packed with huge potholes, so I needed a front end alignment after I got to Duluth.
But that Sunday morning we were south of Minneapolis and it was game day. The Vikes were playing Tampa Bay. I turned on the radio and there was a pre-game show on. I remember the sports talk show host saying, “Let’s just rip the roof off da dome and play old time Viking footbal. Dose guys from Tampa Bay won’t even get off da bus.”
The Metrodome roof did collapse this morning with damage to two roof panels, according to TV reports. Monday’s game could be up in the air. Snow has to be cleared from the deflated roof, the panels repaired, and the roof reinflated. In the meanwhile the New York Giants’ flight was diverted to Kansas City where they await word on the game.
But just wait until winter gets here. It's still fall, right?
I know it’s an oldy, but here’s the Minnesotans for Global Warming song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUFTm6cJXM&feature=player_embedded
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