Husker football fans heading to Thursday's game: You'd better pack your ponchos and your patience.

The 8 p.m. game against Big 12 rival Missouri in Columbia is expected to be very wet.

The area was under a flash-flood warning and had recorded 3.43 inches of rain just after noon today, said Scott Truett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in St. Louis.

“It's just pouring over there right now,” he said.

The rain was to continue “certainly all day today, and probably some of the rain will hang on into the early evening hours as well,” Truett said.

The heaviest rain should taper off between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., he said, with showers continuing into the evening.

“I'm sure it's going to be raining at game time,” he said.

Truett expected thunder and lightning to move out of the area, however.

Rain alone generally doesn't derail a football game, and, on the plus side, Missouri's playing surface is field turf.

Bob Burda, a spokesman for the Big 12, said the referee is authorized to delay or suspend a game from 60 minutes before kickoff and on into the game. Before that, any suspension would be up to Mizzou's athletic director.

Chad Moller, a spokesman for the Missouri athletic department, said his department is prepared to monitor the situation.

“This is not the first football game for us to play in potentially bad weather,” he said. “We've done it before. We know what we are doing here.”

Dave Fobert, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Valley, said Nebraska fans driving to the game should get an early start. He said reduced visibility could be an issue on the roads.

But it won't be freezing cold. Forecasts calls for temperatures at kickoff to be in the low 50s, and they should stay there through the evening.

The Big 12's Burda said the last game delay occurred in 2005, before the start of the Colorado-Iowa State football game in Ames, Iowa. That delay, prompted by a tornado warning, lasted about 45 minutes, he said.

Ultimately, Burda said, “It comes down to player and fan safety.”

Contact the writer: 444-1336, leia.baez@owh.com

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