Metrodome Roof Collapsing Video... in Progress...

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Don't you hate when that happens?
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No point in designing a roof for a snow load when everyone knows you never get snow in Minneapolis
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They showed men up on top of the stadium shoveling snow. WT*!!!!!!!!!!!! Kind of like asking ants to clear my front porch which has 1 inch on it.
 
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Al,

The Metrodome in Minneapolis has been there for 30 years. It has seen lots of snow through the years, just not 24" at once like we received yesterday along with the 35 MPH winds. There was a concentrated snow load in the area that broke through one of the panels. Once you have an opening, the pressure holding up the roof will be lost and the top comes down, which creates a funnel effect for the remaining snow to slide onto the field below.

As an FYI - The men on top of the dome were not shoveling snow, but rather using hot water fire hoses to melt the snow and slide the slush to the outside edges of the building where is it diverted away. It's been done that way for 30 years with no adverse effects.

The dome iteslf is a teflon coated material similar to a fiberglass mesh. An expensive repair for sure.

Hope that helps,

757 Guy
Longtime Minneapolis Area Resident
 
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Correct.

I was actually in there when it collapsed in 1982 when the Twins were playing the California Angels,

Roof swayed, speakers & roof came down. Watched the players scramble off the field like CRAZY!
 
So the roof was a teflon coated inflatable mattress? Where will they play their games next year?
 
Originally Posted By: 757guy
Al,

The Metrodome in Minneapolis has been there for 30 years. It has seen lots of snow through the years, just not 24" at once

OK but I heard they only had 17". But figured something else was wrong.
 
I saw the footage on CNN.

One thing I thought was a little weird - the anchor mentioned that if you're flying into Minneapolis for Monday night's game, you need to call your airline and change to a flight to Detroit instead. Hey, what about the people who LIVE in Minneapolis?!? Not everyone who has tickets to that game is coming from NY... I guess they don't care about "flyover territory".
 
Absolute idiocy to add water to any roof with deep snow. Snow does not weight that much since it is full of voids (air). Add water to fill it that is an incredible amount of weight.

It is a very common concern here to have snow(deeper) and then heavy rain which does not drain off. Things collapse.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
Absolute idiocy to add water to any roof with deep snow. Snow does not weight that much since it is full of voids (air). Add water to fill it that is an incredible amount of weight.

It is a very common concern here to have snow(deeper) and then heavy rain which does not drain off. Things collapse.

Snow doesn't weigh that much? Obviously never shovelled your driveway by hand.
 
Originally Posted By: mikered30
So the roof was a teflon coated inflatable mattress? Where will they play their games next year?

They're trying to have it repaired in time for the next Viking home game. That's on the 20th, IIRC.
 
I gave my snow blower a good work out this weekend. made a big trench in 3 feet deep snow on my lawn to the north west side of the driveway, as a drift stopped. the niegbhors have a snow pile about 7 feet high on the edge of there drive way on both sides. Not me I moved the snow way back. LOL they will be sorry if we get another storm like this one soon.


My You Tube page
 
Originally Posted By: mikiee
Originally Posted By: rjundi
Absolute idiocy to add water to any roof with deep snow. Snow does not weight that much since it is full of voids (air). Add water to fill it that is an incredible amount of weight.

It is a very common concern here to have snow(deeper) and then heavy rain which does not drain off. Things collapse.

Snow doesn't weigh that much? Obviously never shovelled your driveway by hand.


Shovel 10" deep of snow and then 10" deep of water in the same volume(size/space). Then tell me which one is significantly lighter.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
Absolute idiocy to add water to any roof with deep snow. Snow does not weight that much since it is full of voids (air). Add water to fill it that is an incredible amount of weight.

It is a very common concern here to have snow(deeper) and then heavy rain which does not drain off. Things collapse.

+1 Hot water is a good plan with a few inches of snow, but if there is a good amount of snow already up there, all that water just adds weight... I was plowing my driveway in the rain yesterday and the snow just got heavier and harder to plow as more rain came down.
 
I think you guys are missing the point of using hot water. The roof of the Metrodome is just that: a dome. We get rain in Minnesota too; but that rain drains away just like the snow does when it melts. Using hot water to melt snow starting at the edges of the dome and working up to the top presents less stress than a heavy thunderstorm would during the summer months. Melting the snow creates only water to flow off the dome.

As long as there is differential pressure to keep the dome inflated, there is no problem. Look at the video and notice how forcefully some of the snow is blown out of the tear in the roof. There were some unusual stresses on that roof with 35 MPH winds and snowfall rates at 2" per hour. (It was around 20 degs. at the time and the snow was very dry.)

Think of an above ground swimming pool. The pool holds all the water in just fine - but sometimes someone, or something, bumps the side, and it splits open causing the water to cascade out to the open yard. Same thing here: something caused a roof panel to split; snow, water, wind, whatever. When it did, the roof starts to collapse with no way to stop it.

757 Guy (Still digging out)
 
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