Is it too hot for practice?
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Two answers, and which one binds you
This is the part that trips people up. At the same reading, our guidance may say cancel while a state by-law still allows a capped, modified session. Both can be right — they are different instruments. A state association’s policy is a compliance rule written for its member schools and its region’s athletes. Ours is a physiological screening recommendation that doesn’t know your league.
So we show both. Where we know your state’s policy we render it in full — status, thresholds, activity zones and a link to the governing body’s own document — beside our reading, with an explanation of why they differ. Follow the rule that binds you; let the stricter number inform how carefully you run the session you’re allowed to run.
Why athletic thresholds are regional
A single national cut-off would be wrong in both directions. Athletes in consistently hot regions are acclimatized in a way athletes in cooler ones are not, and the research behind the modern policies reflects that — which is why cancellation thresholds differ by tens of degrees of WBGT across states that all consider themselves cautious.
Our guidance therefore leads with the conservative case: it flags that cooler-region or unacclimatized athletes should stop earlier, and treats the Extreme tier as cancel-for-everyone. If your association publishes a threshold, that number is more specific to you than ours is.
Planning a session rather than reacting to one
Heat stress moves through the day in a predictable arc, and the most useful thing a coach can do is move the session rather than shorten it. The live map scrubs hour by hour so you can see when the window opens, and a custom report covers a tournament or a camp week in one shareable document.
Not a substitute for your association’s policy or an on-site reading. Where a rule requires a measured WBGT, that measurement governs. Have an emergency action plan, cold-water immersion available, and treat suspected exertional heat stroke as an emergency.
What to do at each level
| Level | WBGT | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | below 64°F | Normal practice — low risk. Normal practice, no restrictions; keep water available at all times. |
| Caution | 64–73°F | Normal practice — hydrate, watch at-risk players. Normal practice; give 3+ rest/water breaks per hour (≥3 min) and watch unacclimatized players. |
| Moderate | 73–82°F | Use discretion; add rest breaks. Use discretion for intense or prolonged exercise; 3–4 rest breaks per hour (≥4 min); watch at-risk athletes closely. |
| High | 82–90°F | Shorten practice; strip heavy gear. Cap practice at 1–2 h; cut intensity and remove heavy or insulating gear; 4+ breaks/hour (~40 work / 20 rest). Football: helmet and shoulder pads only, then all pads off. Cooler-region or unacclimatized athletes should cancel — as low as ~31 °C. |
| Extreme | 90–95°F | Cancel outdoor practice. Cancel outdoor practice — no workouts or walk-throughs. (All cooler regions have already cancelled below this.) |
| Lethal | 95°F and up | All outdoor activity cancelled. All outdoor activity cancelled — no exceptions. |
Screening guidance shown for an acclimatized person at moderate workload. Add your own situation in the app for a personalized read — it only ever makes the guidance stricter, never looser.
Common questions
What WBGT is too hot for practice?
It depends on where you are, and that is not a hedge. Athletic heat policies are regional by design: a cooler-acclimatized region cancels at a WBGT that a hot-climate region still practises in, because the athletes are differently adapted. Many US states have their own high-school policy with specific thresholds — when we know yours, we show it beside our guidance rather than instead of it.
Why does your guidance differ from my state's policy?
Because they answer different questions. Ours is a general heat-stress screening recommendation drawn from sports-medicine guidance; your state association's policy is the rule your school or league is actually held to. They use different thresholds and serve different purposes. Follow the policy that binds you, and treat a stricter reading here as a reason for extra caution rather than a conflict.
Do I still need an on-site WBGT device?
If your state or association requires an on-site reading to set or modify activity, yes — that measurement is what compliance rests on, and our modelled value does not substitute for it. Use this to plan the session, pick the time, and know what to expect before you get there.
Why is the start of the season the most dangerous part?
Because heat adaptation takes one to two weeks, and preseason arrives before anyone has it. Athletes are fit but not heat-adapted — and fitness is not a substitute. This is why formal heat-acclimatization protocols exist for the opening days of practice, and why exertional heat illness clusters there.
What about football pads and other gear?
Equipment that covers skin blocks evaporation, which is the body's main cooling route, so the same conditions are harder in full pads than in shorts and a shirt. Most policies step gear down before they cancel outright: pads off, then helmets off, then practice shortened, then cancelled.
Other audiences
Asphalt runs far hotter than the air. Check the ground temperature where you are before you walk.
Work/rest guidance from the live heat-stress reading, for crews, supervisors and safety officers.
Flag conditions and work/rest cycles from the live WBGT, for military and first-responder training.