Welcome to the Texas Weather Policy Guide, a handy resource for understanding UIL and THSADA weather policies for athletics in Texas. We’ve simplified the information to make it easy to find what you need.
Perry Weather is not affiliated with or sponsored by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). All references to UIL are for editorial and informational purposes only.
Source: UIL Heat Stress & Athletic Participation Recommended Plan — based on American College of Sports Medicine guidelines.
View an interactive report showing real WBGT data from over 700 weather stations across the state of Texas.
Humidity varies sharply across Texas, so Class 2 thresholds trip about 2–3°F lower than Class 3. Confirm yours before the season.
Class 2 Zones
Cooling zone at 79.7°F WBGT+
Generally drier regions of Central and West Texas. Lower trigger points across every row of the chart — expect to act sooner as heat builds.
Class 3 Zones
Cooling zone at 82.0°F WBGT+
Much of East and coastal Texas. Higher trigger points, but the same required actions once thresholds are met.
The University Interscholastic League (UIL) Heat Safety Protocols require schools to have specific infrastructure and protocols for outdoor activities.
To keep students, youth and athletes safe, the following are required:
The first five days of fall football practice are an acclimatization period that ramps up equipment and contact gradually.
Meeting AAA heat stress requirements starts with accurate data. Perry Weather’s on-site WBGT and Heat Index monitoring tracks conditions continuously, so your staff always has the information they need to make the right call.
Your heat stress policy is only as good as your ability to communicate it in the moment. Perry Weather gives your staff the AAA policy framework, real-time alerts, and forecasting they need to make confident decisions all season long.
Perry Weather automatically logs every WBGT reading so you always have a complete picture of heat conditions across every practice, every session, all year long.
A wet bulb globe temperature device lets athletic trainers measure WBGT conditions on the field. UIL guidelines emphasize preventing heat-related illnesses, and this technology ensures you can instantly adjust practice times, water breaks, and rest intervals to protect athletes.
Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is a heat-stress index used to assess the risk of heat illness during outdoor and indoor activities. Unlike standard air temperature, WBGT incorporates the combined effects of air temperature, humidity, radiant heat (such as sunlight), and air movement to better estimate the environmental heat load on the human body.
While both are used to evaluate hot-weather conditions, the Heat Index only combines temperature and humidity. WBGT considers additional environmental factors that can affect heat stress, making it a preferred tool for sports, outdoor work, military training, and other activities where heat safety is a concern.
Read more about the differences between WBGT and the heat index here.
Monitoring WBGT is essential for protecting athletes’ health and safety during outdoor practices, games, and events.
A higher WBGT reading leads to a greater risk of heat-related illnesses like heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and muscle cramps.
Heat acclimatization is your body’s natural process of adapting to hot weather.
By gradually increasing your activity level and time spent in the heat over 1–2 weeks, your body becomes better at staying cool and handling hot conditions.
This helps reduce the risk of heat-related illness and can improve comfort and performance in the heat.
Heat illness is a range of conditions that occur when the body can’t cool itself fast enough, from heat cramps and heat exhaustion to the most severe form, exertional heat stroke. It’s one of the leading causes of preventable death in high school athletes.
Classic heat illness is caused by environmental conditions such as high temperatures, humidity, direct sun, and low wind, all things that WBGT take in to account.
Heat Illness is typically preceded by Heat Stress – the strain placed on the body when it works to maintain a safe core temperature in hot conditions. Warning signs may be elevated heart rate, heavy sweating, and fatigue
Exertional heat stroke is the most severe form of heat illness and a medical emergency. It occurs when the body’s core temperature rises above 104°F due to intense physical activity.
Unlike classic heat stroke, which is driven purely by environmental conditions, exertional heat stroke is triggered by the body generating more internal heat than it can release during strenuous exercise.
Heat stroke prevention is often tied to real-time WBGT monitoring because it gives athletic trainers the data they need to modify activity before conditions become dangerous.
WBGT can be measured with a handheld device or a stationary on-site sensor. Handheld devices are portable but prone to shadows, calibration drift, and human error, and someone has to remember to take readings manually.
The gold standard is a stationary sensor with a 3.5″ black bulb, which automatically captures continuous readings and more accurately reflects the radiant heat your athletes are actually experiencing. For programs required to monitor WBGT at every practice, it eliminates the compliance risk that comes with manual methods.
The following guidelines are based on recommendations by the UIL.
Activities must be postponed or suspended if signs of a thunderstorm are imminent before or during an activity or contest. Here’s what to do if a thunderstorm is imminent:
Suspend play for 30 minutes and seek shelter immediately if thunder is heard within 30 seconds of lightning.
Suspend all activities and seek shelter immediately if a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt is seen.
After suspending activities, wait at least 30 minutes following the last sound of thunder or lightning flash before resuming activities or returning outdoors.
The following protocols are set by the UIL Lightning Safety Recommendations. Postpone or suspend activity if a thunderstorm appears imminent before or during an event, even without visible lightning or audible thunder, until the hazard has passed. Warning signs include darkening clouds, high winds, thunder, or lightning.
Establish a chain of command to decide who makes the call to remove individuals from the field.
Designate a weather watcher to monitor for signs of threatening weather and notify the chain of command.
Ensure there is a reliable way to monitor local weather forecasts and warnings.
Perry Weather’s lightning detection and alerts system gives you clear, actionable instructions aligned with your lightning safety policies.
We’ll notify you as soon as lightning is detected with automated alerts. We guide you through immediate actions, keeping your athletes safe and practices on track.
Automatic alerts and real-time data for informed decision-making during critical weather events.
Know exactly when it’s safe to step out after a lightning strike with Perry Weather’s lightning countdown timers.
When a lightning strike is detected nearby, Perry Weather initiates a countdown until given the all-clear and resuming outdoor activities.
The timer resets with each subsequent strike, ensuring adherence to lightning safety protocols before resuming activities
Stay a step ahead with advanced radar and predictive lightning risk management for confident event planning and adaptive scheduling.
Get custom PA alerts and audible alarms with our lightning warning system.
Instantly broadcast alerts and safety messages automatically across your campus – no matter the weather conditions.
Strobe lights, loud alarms, and text-to-speech make sure you won’t miss lightning alerts.
It works even during power outages, ensuring continuous safety without needing a direct power source.
There are two cold-related conditions that coaches, administrators and athletes should be aware of: hypothermia and frostbite.
Hypothermia is when the core body temperature decreases to at least 95°F.
It occurs when the heat loss is greater than the metabolic and heat production. Hypothermia can be either mild, moderate, or severe, based on core body temperature.
Frostbite is a thermal skin injury that’s caused by freezing of the skin and tissues.
It results from prolonged or brief exposure to extreme cold. The body areas most prone to frostbite are the hands, feet, nose, ears and cheeks.
A safe shelter is any frequently inhabited building with four solid walls (not a dugout), electrical and telephone wiring, and plumbing, which aid in grounding the structure.
Yes. Lightning victims do not carry a residual electrical charge. However, prioritize checking for injuries and call emergency services immediately.
Responsibilities may vary, but typically coaches, athletic trainers, and officials share the responsibility for monitoring weather conditions and enforcing safety procedures.
Some policies allow for designated “safe havens” under sturdy structures like bleachers (away from metal supports) or inside enclosed vehicles with the windows rolled up. However, this is a last resort.
Watch how schools across the country are using Perry Weather to comply with state weather policies and keep their campuses safe.
