Game played in the nick of time

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The first cold-weather Super Bowl was actually pretty warm.

The National Weather Service said that temperatures for Sunday’s NFL title game at MetLife Stadium were 10 to 15 degrees above normal, and just nine degrees below the record high of 62 set in 1973.

It’s certainly not what league owners expected in 2010 when they awarded the game to the Jets and Giants. The fears that snow, ice and frigid temperatures would detract from the game normally held in either warm-weather cities or in a dome proved unfounded – at least by a day.

The snow is forecast today.

Some two hours before kickoff, it was 52 degrees and cloudy. Fans stood in the stands wearing Broncos and Seahawks jerseys, holding their jackets or hanging them over seats.

The coldest kickoff temperature in Super Bowl history was 39 degrees at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans for Super Bowl VI.

“Considering the cold weather we have had at the end of January, I would say the people going to the game are pretty lucky,” Joe Pollina of the National Weather Service said.

Rain is expected late in the night and it is expected to turn to snow, with 4-6 inches accumulating before ending this afternoon, Pollina said.