Snow diverters added to new Vikings stadium

Construction on the new Minnesota Vikings stadium has just about reached a halfway point, and the stadium is really starting to take shape on the Minneapolis skyline. It seems like there's something new and different every day, and the new addition this week is the black panels going in way at the top.

Those panels are called snow diverters, and they actually catch the snow as it melts off the roof, keeping it from falling off the building. The snow is funneled into a catch basin that has a heating system, and the water is drained out through a gutter system.

"You can now see what the entire outside of the building will look like," stadium authority chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen said. "These black zinc panels will cover the skin of the entire building."

That's not all that's new this week. Escalators are being dropped in by massive cranes, and the glass panels will be installed later in the week.

The last piece of the main truss across the structure will be in place by the end of June or July, and the entire building should be enclosed by November. Once the stadium is covered, the seats will start going in and the walls will start getting painted.

Everything is on schedule for the new stadium to open in July of 2016.

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