Sports

UMass Football Hides From Surprise Tornado As Wacky Weather Wreaks Havoc On Massachussetts

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Massachusetts Tornado Storm Weather UMass Football
iStockphoto / © David Butler II-Imagn Images

UMass did not begin its second game of the 2025 college football season on time as wild weather rolled through New England. A tornado warning in Massachussetts caused an indefinite kickoff delay.

This kind of thing does not happen often so fans were completely unprepared!

Fortunately, there were not that many college football fans who needed to take shelter in Amherst. The Minutemen rarely draw more than a few hundred people at their home games anyway.

A tornado… in Massachussetts?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there have been only 55 confirmed tornados in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since the turn of the millennium. It marks only 200 tornados in total since 1951— which resulted in an estimated $554,708,420 in property damage, 1,562 direct injuries and 105 fatalities.

We, of course, hope that this latest weather incident does not add to that total.

A massive string of storms ran up the Atlantic coast, stretching from Philadelphia up into Maine on Saturday. They were slow moving and dangerous.

Massachusetts weather tornado
NWS Radar

The storm unleashed its wrath on western Massachusetts as it crept across the state.

Lightning preceded the violent winds and rain to the east.

A thunderstorm, of course, is no big deal. However, the clouds started to circle.

As a result, much of Massachusetts fell under a tornado watch.

UMass postponed its college football game.

College football cannot be played if there is lightning within six miles of the venue. It most certainly cannot be played if there is a possible tornado.

Thus, the Minutemen issued an indefinite delay to its kickoff while the storm rolled through the area.

You could see the storm coming in the distance.

The clouds became more and more ominous as they inched closer and closer to McGuirk Alumni Stadium. It was a beautiful weather scene under unfortunate circumstances.

Fans, and the marching band, were forced to seek shelter inside the nearest building.

Kickoff was originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The radar does not clear up until after 6:00.

UMass and Bryant will be forced to wait. This lengthy weather delay could’ve been avoided if the Minutemen moved kickoff to the morning instead of waiting to see what happened but here we are.