How school administrators keep an eye out for thunderstorm threat as high school football kicks off
Gavin Nguyen
THERMAL, Calif. (KESQ) – Friday night lights … and maybe, lightning?
The Coachella Valley will be seeing more humidity through the weekend and into next week, bringing chances for monsoonal thunderstorms.
According to the National Weather Service, chances remain slight on Friday, with increasing chances through the weekend, and even greater chances early next week (Monday and Tuesday).
Thunderstorms present a challenge for school administrators planning high school sports games and practices already wrestling with high temperatures and humidity. Air temperature and humidity are key parts of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which may delay games on Friday if that measurement surpasses 92.1°F.
Palm Springs Unified School District uses its Perry Weather Monitoring System to look out for lightning strikes, and will alert administrators of any strikes in close proximity of its schools.
Meanwhile, Jason Castillo, the Athletic Director of Coachella Valley High School, told News Channel 3 the school uses Zelus WBGT – an app that provides wet bulb globe temperature data and tracks lightning strikes in the area. Any lightning strikes within nine miles means play or practice must be suspended until 30 minutes pass without any new activity.
His coaching staff also keeps their eyes and ears open for any thunder or lightning; if they can see or hear it, they said it’s too close.
While some student-athletes and their parents may be disappointed by delayed or canceled games, Castillo said they do their best to keep everyone on the same page when weather-related delays occur.
“The game might be canceled or delayed or whatever like that. So we [explain] those those protocols to the parents as well. So they already have a… they already have a mindset of okay, it could be delayed,” Castillo said.
Safety is the biggest issue, especially as the National Weather Service says about 20 Americans die each year from lightning strikes. So far this year, 13 deaths have been recorded nationwide. Summer tends to be the season with the most lightning strikes.
“We’re just going to do what we’ve got to do with keeping the kids safe. That’s the biggest thing for our kids, for our neighborhood, our community. We’re just keeping the kids safe with whatever weather comes. We’ll deal with it and we’ll adjust to it,” added Castillo.