'It's triple digits again': Modesto City Schools using new tool to track weather conditions
The Perry Weather Station tracks temperature, humidity, wind speed, air quality and rainfall. It helps coaches and administrators make decisions about outdoor activities.
The Perry Weather Station tracks temperature, humidity, wind speed, air quality and rainfall. It helps coaches and administrators make decisions about outdoor activities.
The Perry Weather Station tracks temperature, humidity, wind speed, air quality and rainfall. It helps coaches and administrators make decisions about outdoor activities.
Triple-digit temperatures at the beginning of October don't make for the best football weather, but students and staff in Modesto City Schools are making it work.
"We were all shocked when we saw the weather from last week. We're like, oh my God, it's triple digits again,” Lukas Silva, a football player at Davis High School, said. "There's a lot more water breaks and stuff like that, but I just feel like we get a lot more done and we're more focused because we just want to get out of there sometimes."
As the heat wave continues, Modesto City Schools is using a new, permanent tool to track weather conditions to ensure athletes and coaches are safe. It's called the Perry Weather Station and they have one at seven of their high schools.
“When you start talking about heat stroke, heat illness, heat exhaustion, those are life-changing illnesses that could happen. And the only way to monitor that is to understand what the temperature is outside compared to what the athletes are going through, what the equipment is that they have on, how often they're getting their water breaks,” said Tom Nipper, director of health services for Modesto City Schools.
The Perry Weather Station tracks temperature, humidity, wind speed, air quality and rainfall. Using that information, it makes the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature – an accumulation of weather data that helps coaches and administrators make decisions about outdoor activities.
"That's the temperature threshold for the body to say yes or no,” Nipper said.
"We're just trying to provide the kids the best scenario possible while still trying to prepare for competition,” Timmy Garcia, Modesto City Schools athletic director, said. “We're just monitoring that on hot days and making sure that we follow the protocols and giving the proper breaks for the kids and water breaks and shade and stuff like that.”
Each of the seven weather stations has a four-mile radius so they can serve the entire community of Modesto.
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