“Perry Weather allows us to make game-time decisions. Nobody likes to cancel a sporting event, but we’ve got to keep the kids safe.”
Bay District schools is home to over 48 schools between elementary, middle, high, charter, and special-purpose, educating over 26,000 students each year.
Taking into account the many athletic events, practices and graduations, between each school, District Athletic Director Josh Laatsch has quite the scheduling challenge to face.
The Gulf Coast, however, writes its own schedule. Pop-up storms can form in ten minutes and disappear just as fast.
When Hurricane Michael tore through Bay County in 2018, Bay District Schools lost millions in revenue and had to consolidate campuses, a stark reminder of how fast Gulf-Coast weather can turn dangerous quick.
With weather safety top of mind for this district, they knew they needed something more robust that could protect not only their kids but their community as well.
Weather data in the Cloud—Not on a notebook
For years, the staff relied on a slew of tools from handheld sensors, paper & pencil and free radar apps. Broad radar sweeps reached phones minutes late and left staff guessing on the sideline.
Screens rarely matched and refresh delays hid new lightning strikes—this uncertainty slowed weather decisions and sparked sideline debates from athletic trainers to athletic directors.
District leadership pushed for a lightning-alert & weather monitoring system that could reach phones and fields in an instant. Perry Weather fit the bill with reliable radius-based lightning alerts and FSHAA WBGT policy compliance.
“We’re in the Kid Business.”
“We say it all the time around here, we’re in the kid business, so a lot of what we do every day is to provide safety and experiences that carries on past their time in middle school or high school.”
Josh Laatsch, District Athletic Director, Bay District Schools
For District Athletic Director Josh Laatsch, any solution had to be simple enough for first-year coaches yet strict enough for FHSAA wet bulb globe temperature policy compliance.
Here’s how Bay District’s lightning delays look now with Perry Weather.
Lightning flashes over the stadium. Less than 15 seconds later:
- Siren sounds, strobe pulses, fans head to safety.
- Officials signal teams to locker rooms.
- Every coach, athletic trainer, official and fan sees the same lightning countdown timer so that no one is questioning when the delay will be over
And when lightning strikes again within the delay window, the time resets automatically and no one fumbles with a stopwatch. When 30 uninterrupted minutes pass, the app gives the all-clear, officials whistle teams back, and the game resumes with no second-guessing.
Shared Responsibility, Real Peace of Mind
“It helps spread the responsibility out to many stakeholders … they have the most accurate information, so they can make the best on-scene decisions.” — Barth
Every phone shows the same countdown, so staff on remote fields act immediately without waiting for a weather call from the top down.
“I might be across town or another event for the state. Perry Weather allows us to be able to have that peace of mind knowing that we don’t have to have our full attention back home all the time.”
Athletic trainers are now empowered to make the weather call themselves with confidence, knowing that the decision is based on a reliable single source of truth.
Planning ahead and looking back on past weather data has never been easier
“I keep Perry Weather on my night stand”
“My wife always jokes with me, because the first thing I do in the morning is get on my phone and look at the Perry Weather app.”
Josh Laatsch, District Athletic Director, Panama City Florida
Perry Weather has quickly become part of Josh’s morning routine. Weather decisions for the day are often made well before the first period bell even rings.
Historical WBGT data in the Cloud—Not on a notebook
“Before Perry Weather, we had ADs and athletic trainers out there with pen and pencil. Thanks to Perry Weather, that’s not really how we do things anymore” — Josh Laatsch
In June of 2020, Florida’s Zachary Martin Act requires schools to monitor and record Wet Bulb Globe Temperature every 30 minutes and follow FHSAA rule for each heat zone.
Here’s what it looks like:
| < 82.0 | ≥ 3 breaks / hour, ≥ 3 min each, no equipment restrictions |
| 82.1 – 86.9 | ≥ 3 breaks / hour, ≥ 4 min each, no equipment restrictions |
| 87.1 – 90.0 | ≥ 4 breaks / hour, ≥ 4 min each, Helmet + shoulder pads + shorts (pants may stay on if WBGT rises mid-practice) |
| 90.1 – 91.9 | ≥ 5 breaks / hour (total 20 min), No protective equipment; no conditioning |
| 92.1 | Outdoor activity suspended completely |
Perry Weather’s on-site sensors send a new WBGT reading every 5 minutes and color-codes it in the same app that handles lightning. This way athletic trainers, athletic directors and coaches all know what to do when a wet-bulb globe reading hits a certain level.
Perry Weather tells them whether it’s time for a rest break or to leave the field.
The WBGT readings also funnel into the app and are exportable in just a few clicks.
“Now we can pull up the WBGT from, say, 3:30 during football practice, we can see exactly what the heat level was when a kid said they felt symptoms.” — Laatsch
Trading Chaos for Confidence
Today Perry Weather is arming all of Bay District with the information to help decide when to shelter, when to resume, and how long athletes can safely train—backed by accurate lightning alerts and automatic WBGT records that satisfy the FSHAA guidelines.
The result is calm sideline confidence:
- Coaches focus on technique instead of sky-watching.
- Trainers treat athletes with data, not hunches.
- Administrators know every campus follows the same, compliant protocols—even when they’re counties away.
For a district that “lives in the kid business,” Perry Weather delivers one promise: storms and heat may still roll through Panama City, but Bay District be much more prepared when they do.
Try Perry Weather for free for 14 days!
