Measures and Effective Messaging of Heat Risk for Adolescent Athletics

When decision-makers and the general population prepare for hazardous weather events, extreme heat is often overlooked, despite extreme heat impacts being just as or more significant than other weather hazards. Since 2005, extreme heat has been the number one cause of weather-related fatalities both nationally and internationally, and the frequency of record heat weather events is increasing with time (Oswald 2018). A June 2021 heat event in the Pacific Northwest claimed over 200 lives despite warnings, aggressive messaging, and impact-based decision support services (IDSS) from local NWS offices. In Georgia, two fatalities of young athletes have occurred since 2018 even with a proactive and rigorous heat safety policy developed by Grundstein and Cooper (2014) that has been in place and by the Georgia High School Association.

This study compares the three most established ways of measuring extreme heat: Heat Index (HI), Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), and NWS HeatRisk, and how they apply to adolescent athletes. Discussion points will include optimal time of day to practice, best time of year to begin and end middle and high school sports programs, as well the benefits and challenges of heat safety policies.

To increase awareness of heat risks for student athletes, recent messaging strategies from local and national NWS offices were reviewed. Potential enhancements to the NWS Unified Heat Strategy, an extreme heat policy and outreach initiative developed by the NWS Public Program, based on results of this project will be proposed.