The Spurs 50th anniversary game and WWE Royal Rumble set attendance records at the Alamodome. Credit: Shutterstock / Felix Mizioznikov

A University Interscholastic League women’s basketball game was postponed Thursday night as winds from a severe thunderstorm in San Antonio caused hail to fall from the Alamodome’s roof onto spectators.

With a little more than five minutes to go in the semifinal matchup between the Wagner Thunderbirds and Frisco Liberty Redhawks, hail pellets rained down inside the building, leading athletes to exit the court while fans sought shelter.

“Uh… this is a first for me,” Express-News sports photojournalist Sam Owens wrote on Twitter. She shared video of league officials trying to clear the hail from the court with towels.

“It’s actually hailing inside the Alamodome because it’s hailing so bad outside,” Fulshear High School Football Coach Nick Codutti said on Twitter.

A representative for the city’s convention and sports facilities told the Express-News that wind was primarily to blame for the icy pellets getting inside the dome.

Alamodome spokesman Richard Oliver told the daily that wind gusts — which at times reached 60 mph Thursday night — caused the hail to blow sideways into exhaust fan vents on the stadium’s roof.

The game eventually resumed once the hail stopped. The Redhawks ultimately beat the Thunderbirds 62-51.

Even so, the strong winds from Thursday’s severe thunderstorm have wreaked havoc across parts of San Antonio. More than 350 CPS customers are still without power as of press time due to downed power lines and fallen limbs, according to the utility’s website.

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This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 7, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...