Storm delays might linger for a few hours for Irish and Purdue; primetime beckons for second half
This author, of course, already raised the prospect of thunderstorms disrupting the ‘Notre Dame’-Purdue game days ago, and reiterated the issue in the hours before game-time.
True enough, the game was suspended with 1:31 to go in the first half, due to lightning and thunderstorm activity across the Michiana region. Under public safety protocols and NCAA guidelines, the stadium outdoor seating has been evacuated, and both teams and fans are taking shelter.
Hourly forecasts from The Weather Channel indicate that thunderstorms might continue in the area for another one or two hours, which would have to be followed by an additional half-hour wait.
The Irish lead the Boilermakers 28-13, with a little more than a minute to go in the first half. Now that the game is essentially going to be a two-mini-game doubleheader, it will be interesting to see which coaches and players do a better job of adjustments, with all this time to study the first half.
The Weather Channel presently predicts an 80% to 94% chance of thunderstorms running well past 6 p.m. ET. However, after, not long ago, predicting a 35% chance of “scattered thunderstorms” continuing past 7 p.m. ET, the forecast has shifted. Now there is a forecast of cloudiness after 7 p.m. ET with a 24% chance that rain will continue.
So it looks like yet another primetime game might be in order for The House That Rockne Built, at least for the final minute-and-change of the first half and the second half.
Keep in mind, however, that even if the lightning moves on, everyone still has to wait a half-hour to resume play.
Curiously enough, NBC announcers said they knew about the weather issue before the game. One does not necessarily recall them highlighting it. As the game began, NBC seemed to be showing bright, sunny blue skies with a campus shot that one presumes must have been shot earlier. >Live scenes inside the stadium right before kickoff already showed overcast.
NCAA
“NCAA Guideline 1 E – Lightning Safety” is a part of the NCAA’s 2013-14 NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook, at p.16 (as opposed to the 2025 NCAA Football Rules Book, which is a separate publication).
NCAA guidance calls for a game to be suspended, and an outdoor stadium evacuated, as a thunderstorm approaches. When lightning and thunder are within six miles, the stadium should already have been evacuated:
“… Lightning awareness should be heightened at the first flash of lightning, clap of thunder, and/or other signs of an impending storm such as increasing winds or darkening skies, no matter how far away. These types of activities should be treated as a warning or ‘wake-up call’…. Lightning safety experts suggest that if you hear thunder, begin preparation for evacuation …
* * *
The following specific lightning safety guidelines have been developed with the assistance of lightning safety experts. Design your lightning safety plan to consider local safety needs, weather patterns and thunderstorm types.
• As a minimum, lightning safety experts strongly recommend that by the time the monitor observes 30 seconds between seeing the lightning flash
and hearing its associated thunder or by the time the leading edge of the storm is within six miles of the venue, all individuals should have left the athletics site and be wholly within a safer structure or location. Individuals just entering the outdoor venue should be directed to the safer location.
• Please note that thunder may be hard to hear if there is an athletics event going on …”
(emphasis added)
If the storm is passing, the NCAA cites expertise calling for a 30-minute wait after both the last audible thunder and last flash of lightning are at least six miles away.
In other words, after the storm starting leaving, everyone would need to wait until the lightning and thunder were at least six miles away, and heading off, and then wait another half-hour.
Of course, if lightning and thunder resumed later within six miles, the delay would have to start all over again.
(Steve Welsh – SCW 9.20.25)