Schools have again had to deal with an extremely hot period of time during the school year, which also happens to be when many sporting events are going on for Junior High and High School. This week’s temperatures have hovered at near 100 degrees at times, while the humidity hasn’t been as high, heat index values have still been above 100 for most of the week, at least for parts of the day. Vandalia Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer Garrison says they have use the wet bulb globe temperature gauge to determine outdoor activities and go by the colors that align with the feel of the weather each day. Dr. Garrison says they have been in the yellow and orange range through this week–both of which would allow for outdoor activity, but would be limited on length and some other factors, especially in the orange level.
Below is information from an article on www.I70sports.com in August of 2024—-
The National Weather Service explains WBGT as being “a measure of the heat stress in direct sunlight, which takes into account: temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover (solar radiation). This differs from the heat index, which takes into consideration temperature and humidity and is calculated for shady areas.”
With schools equipped with wet bulb globe temperature devices, the IESA and IHSA uses guidelines that coincide with the four WBGT risk levels. Any WBGT level of below 80 degrees, which is again a temperature calculated by the five different weather factors, is no risk level. The WBGT low risk level of 80-85 degrees coincides with the “yellow” level of 80-84.5 degrees for IESA/IHSA which calls for discretion for intense and prolonged exercise and frequent water breaks. At the WBGT moderate risk level from 85-88 that coincides with the “orange” level of 84.6-87.5 degrees for IESA/IHSA calls for no contests to be held and for there to be 20 minutes of mandatory water breaks for each hour of practice with practice capped at two hours. At the WBGT moderate risk level from 89-90 that coincides with the “red” level of 87.6-89.9 degrees for IESA/IHSA calls for no contests to be held and for there to be 20 minutes of mandatory water breaks for each hour of practice with practice capped at one hour and also says that no conditioning be completed ad no protective equipment be worn during the one hour practice. The final level or “extreme risk” of any WBGT over 90 degrees or 89.9 degrees and higher for IESA/IHSA calls for no outdoor practices, workouts or games/matches/meets so all outdoor activities must be canceled or postponed.
To read the full IESA and IHSA managing heat illness guidelines, go to https://www.iesa.org/documents/health/IESA-ManagingHeatIllness.pdf
Comments