The Netherlands-Tunisia match is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Thursday at Arrowhead Stadium, which is temporarily renamed Kansas City Stadium for the duration of the World Cup. But stormy weather could delay the game.
Forecasts call for heavy rain, flash flooding and thunderstorms. The National Weather Service says rainfall and thunderstorms will mainly be after 4 p.m.
“I’m concerned about a large area of rain with embedded lightning spreading across the Kansas City area between 4 and 8 PM, along with the potential for ‘rogue’ or pop-up thunderstorms to develop before and after that time period,” KMBC’s Nick Bender said in a Facebook post.
Melissa Kreller is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. She said Thursday afternoon that storms are already developing in Johnson County, Kansas.
Kreller said storms are expected in the Kansas City metro later in the day, and Kansas City is under a flash flood warning until 7 a.m. Friday.
“We're looking at precipitation chances with these storms anywhere from 2 to 3 inches total,” Kreller said. “But there should be some localized heavy rainfall. We could see anywhere around 5 inches with these stronger storms.”
Kreller said the most severe storms should be further south, in areas like Harrisonville, Butler and Clinton, but "there is a potential you might see some stronger to severe thunderstorms across and along that I-70 corridor, including the Kansas City metro area.
World Cup matches will be paused or delayed if there is lightning in an 8-mile radius of the stadium. The game can only restart if it’s been 30 minutes since the last lightning strike. According to Reuters, the France-Iraq match in Philadelphia on Monday had an almost two-hour delay because of thunderstorms and lightning.
The weather already has shut down the FIFA Fan Festival, on the grounds of the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
Due to forecasted adverse weather conditions, FIFA Fan Festival™ is being cleared as a precaution and will be closed until further notice. We advise fans not to travel to FIFA Fan Festival™ as a result. Fans should follow instructions from event staff on site.
— FIFA World Cup 26 Kansas City (@FWC26KansasCity) June 25, 2026
All ConnectKC26… pic.twitter.com/r9S63YHKhI
"Due to forecasted adverse weather conditions, FIFA Fan Festival is being cleared as a precaution and will be closed until further notice," the KC2026 local organizing group wrote on X. "We advise fans not to travel to FIFA Fan Festival as a result. Fans should follow instructions from event staff on site."
Officials said all ConnectKC26 transportation services are still running, including the region direct, stadium direct and airport direct routes.
The Netherlands’ Oranje Fanwalk in Kansas City started earlier than originally scheduled Thursday morning to beat the rain.
This story will be updated.
