Frostbitten Kansas City Chiefs fans required amputations following record-cold playoff game, hospital confirms

Some frostbitten Kansas City Chiefs fans required amputations following the record-cold playoff game against the Miami Dolphins in January.

Research Medical Center is a 590-bed hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, that is a "regional destination for specialized, complex health care including an emergency room and trauma center."

The Research Medical Center informed the Associated Press that it had "treated dozens of people who had experienced frostbite during an 11-day cold snap in January."

There were 12 people who needed amputations, included in the victims of the dangerous cold streak were fans who attended the Chiefs' wild-card playoff game against the Dolphins on Jan. 13. The hospital noted that most of the weather-related amputations involved fingers and toes.

The Research Medical Center said more surgeries are anticipated over the next two to four weeks as "injuries evolve."

The University of Kansas hospital said it also treated frostbite victims after the game but didn’t report any amputations.

Chiefs fans were permitted to bring heated blankets into the stadium and small pieces of cardboard to place under their feet on the frozen concrete.

The temperature for the wild-card playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium was negative four degrees at kickoff and a wind chill of negative 27. It was the coldest game in Chiefs and Dolphins history, and the fourth-coldest NFL game ever.

The coldest game in NFL history is the 1967 NFL championship game – known as the Ice Bowl. The Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field when game-time temperatures were minus 14 Fahrenheit and there was a wind chill of minus 48 degrees.

According to the National Institutes of Health, frostbite can happen when air temperatures fall below 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

"In wind chills of -16.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-27 degrees Celsius), frostbite can occur on exposed skin within 30 minutes," the NIH stated. "Although frostbite can happen anywhere on the body, it typically affects exposed areas like the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, and toes."

The Kansas City Chiefs did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

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