Photos: Snow on the ground and cold in the air in Calgary, which could affect the West Final

CALGARY—For the second-straight week, it looks like the weather is going to play a factor in the CFL playoffs. Sunday's early game between the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats was held inside the domed Rogers Centre, but the West Final between the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders is outdoors in McMahon Stadium, and the elements are very much present here. Calgary has hit by substantial snow over the last couple of days, and although the field has been largely cleared, there are still traces of snow on it, so it could be slippery. The stands and the surroundings have plenty of snow, too. However, the real challenge may come not from the snow, but from the cold.

According to Yahoo! Weather Canada, it was -9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit) in Calgary at 1:45 local time, 45 minutes before the start of the game. That's before you factor in wind chill; there's an 11 kilometre per hour wind from the southeast, making the temperatures feel like -14 Celsius. While the wind doesn't seem too strong at the moment, it could well pick up (and we saw how much that affected last week's East semifinal). Things could get colder, too; sunset's at 4:45, or about halftime, and it's predicted to get even chillier then.

In those conditions, it's going to be interesting to see just how well quarterbacks can throw and receivers can catch. A ball that cold isn't going to be easy to haul in. Moreover, the field has traces of snow on it still, so it could be quite slippery for both receivers and defensive backs. The ground game was always going to be an important element in this one, as both the Stamps and Riders like to lean on their star tailbacks (Jon Cornish and Kory Sheets respectively), but it might be featured even more than normal thanks to the difficulty of passing in these conditions. Keep in mind that slippery conditions will make it tough for backs to make their usual cuts, though. Here are some photos I took illustrating what the conditions are like in Calgary: