Montana school sports heat policy
MHSA’s August 2026 memo recommends WBGT monitoring where a device is available, but it sets no WBGT limits and leaves heat calls to each district. How to read these labels
- Association
- MHSA (Montana High School Association)
- Document
- MHSA Memo: Air Quality, Excessive Heat and Lightning Information for HS Activities (12 August 2026)
- Label
- Policy on file: no single statewide table
- Reading it uses
- See the document
- Statewide table
- No single statewide table
- Last checked
- September 28, 2026
What MHSA’s document says
MHSA recommends WBGT monitoring: its memo has a section headed “WBGT Monitoring (if available)”. But it publishes no WBGT thresholds, and the only activity-modification table in that memo is keyed to air quality. The WBGT section gives a cadence rather than a ladder: “Monitor WBGT every 30 minutes when temperatures exceed 70°F, beginning at scheduled practice time.” The memo leaves the call local: “Each district decides what is safe for its students regarding air quality/heat.” So there is no statewide Montana ladder to show, and your district’s policy is the one that governs.
We don’t have a single sourced threshold table for Montana, and we won’t put another state’s numbers in its place: regional tables differ by several degrees. Follow the policy your school, district or league has adopted. For general heat guidance at your field, open the map.
MHSA Memo: Air Quality, Excessive Heat and Lightning Information for HS Activities (12 August 2026)This is a plain-language summary to help you plan. It is not legal advice, and it is not the association’s document. Associations revise these policies often. Confirm what currently applies with your school, district or association.
What else to know
- The memo’s WBGT section also says “Follow activity modification thresholds based on WBGT readings”, without saying whose thresholds to use, so ask your district which table it follows.
- For acclimatization, the memo says to “Follow NFHS Heat Acclimatization & Heat Illness Prevention guidelines”: start with shorter, less intense sessions, add equipment over several days, and put instruction before conditioning. It also asks schools to keep a written, practiced emergency action plan.
- For games, the memo lists steps by sport, such as earlier cross country start times with water stations on the course. Football game officials (the referees) may call a time-out for unusual heat, but the memo says “Officials should not schedule these timeouts” ahead of time.
- Heat does not change practice counts. The memo says “Required practices for all fall sports (golf, volleyball, cross-country, football, soccer) cannot be waived”, and indoor practices count only if they are full-length and include skill drills, simulations and conditioning.
How to read this
MHSA’s document does not give one WBGT table for the whole state, so none is shown here. The summary above says why. Open the document to find the table or chart that applies to your school.
Before you rely on this
- This page summarizes MHSA’s document. It does not replace it. If they differ, go by the document and by the policy your school or league has adopted.
- Confirm what currently applies with your school, district or association. Many schools adopt their own version.
- Any WBGT number WetBulbTracker shows is a modeled estimate for planning, not an official reading. Where a policy calls for an on-site reading, that reading governs.
- This page does not replace an athletic trainer’s judgment.
Live heat readings in Montana
Suggest a correction
Associations update these documents, often before the fall season. If something here is wrong or out of date, send us a link to the current document and we will re-check it.
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