Skip to content
Flash Weather
Heat haze over an open playing field at midday, the conditions the CIAC WBGT bands set practice limits for at Connecticut schools

State heat policy · Connecticut (CIAC) · Checked 15 Oct 2026

Connecticut high school heat policy: CIAC WBGT thresholds, practice limits, and how to plan around them

The CIAC Medical Handbook recommends testing the air with a WBGT index before every practice or game, and prints five Category 1 bands for the State of Connecticut that set practice length, rest breaks and football equipment. Here are the bands as the 2026-27 handbook prints them, what to keep on file, and how a 6-hour WBGT outlook lets you move practice instead of cancelling it.

Flash Meteorology Desk · Checked against the CIAC Medical Handbook 2026-2027 · Checked 15 Oct 2026 · 6 min read

WBGT outlook · Field B · 6 hours

12:58

81.182921 pm2 pm3 pm4 pm5 pm6 pm
  • 4 pm · 82.3 — in 81.1–84.0
  • Under 81.1 after 5:10

Move practice to 5:30 — the on-site reading stays the compliance record.

Illustrative example · Not live weather
On this page · 8 sections

What does the CIAC recommend?

The heat section of the CIAC Medical Handbook is a list of recommended practices and precautions. It asks coaches to build fitness and heat acclimatization gradually, keep water on the field at all times, and test the air before practice or a game with a WBGT index, using the Category 1 bands for the State of Connecticut (Grundstein et al. 2015).

WBGT measurements should be taken 10 to 15 minutes before practice and used to decide whether practice or a contest starts, is modified or stops. The handbook also recommends a minimum ten-minute water break for every twenty minutes of heavy exercise in the heat, rest in the shade, and an ice-water tub at every practice and game.

  • Reading cadence

    A WBGT measurement 10–15 minutes before practice, used to decide whether practice or a contest starts, is modified or stops.

  • Water breaks

    Water on the field at all times, in unlimited quantities. The handbook recommends a ten-minute break per twenty minutes of heavy exercise in the heat.

  • Ice-water immersion

    A kiddy pool or large tub filled with water, with ice on standby, at all practices and games.

  • Weight checks

    High-risk athletes weighed before and after practice. Over three percent weight loss: no practice in hot, humid conditions.

The CIAC WBGT threshold table

Five Category 1 bands, read in degrees Fahrenheit from the WBGT index: one table for the whole state. The row colour follows the Flash alert scale your athletic trainers already see in the app.

CIAC Category 1 WBGT activity guidelines for Connecticut high school practice: five bands from under 76.1 to 86.2 and above, with practice-length, rest-break and football-equipment rules
WBGT (°F)Activity limitRest breaksFootball equipment
Under 76.1Normal ActivitiesProvide at least three separate rest breaks each hour with a minimum duration of 3 min each during the workoutNone listed
76.3 – 81.0Use discretion for intense or prolonged exerciseProvide at least three separate rest breaks each hour with a minimum duration of 4 min eachNone listed
81.1 – 84.0Maximum practice time is 2 hoursFor All Sports: Provide at least four separate rest breaks each hour with a minimum duration of 4 min eachFor Football: players are restricted to helmet, shoulder pads, and shorts during practice
84.2 – 86.0Maximum practice time is 1 hourFor All Sports: There must be 20 min of rest breaks distributed throughout the hour of practiceFor Football: No protective equipment may be worn during practice, and there may be no conditioning activities
86.2 and aboveNo outdoor workouts. Delay practice until a cooler WBGT is reached——

Source: CIAC Medical Handbook 2026-2027, Heat Stress and Athletic Participation, item 5, Cat 1 table (p. 25), checked 15 Oct 2026. Ranges as printed. If the WBGT rises into 81.1–84.0 during practice, football players may continue in football pants without changing to shorts.

Where does Flash fit?

Flash is a forecast for planning, not an on-site meter: the CIAC bands run on the WBGT reading taken before practice. Flash's 6-hour WBGT outlook tells you at 1 pm what the 4 pm reading is likely to be, so you can move practice instead of cancelling it.

  • Heat: plan, don't cancel

    The outlook runs per field for every hour of the afternoon, against the five CIAC bands. Shift the start, swap the equipment plan or go indoors before the cars arrive.

  • Lightning: up to 60 minutes ahead

    Strike-level prediction on a 1×1 km cell, refreshed every 2 minutes. Up to 99.6% lightning prediction accuracy on a one-hour window, measured against NLDN ground-truth strikes — method published.

    Accuracy method

  • Return to play: the all-clear timer

    After the last strike inside your radius, Flash runs your policy's all-clear timer and logs it, so play resumes on evidence.

    Weather Command Center

Flash Heat and WBGT prediction 6-hour WBGT outlook, heat index, air temperature and dew point per 1×1 km cell

What does a planning day look like?

Illustrative example · Not live weather — the readings are examples, the rules are the CIAC's

An empty high school practice field under a hazy hot sun with a shade canopy and water coolers on the sideline, the setting for a CIAC WBGT planning day in Connecticut

6:15 pm · The reading that decides the day

The band you land in sets the clock, the breaks and the pads.

  1. Flash 6-hour WBGT outlook for the practice field: 80 by 3 pm, into 81.1–84.0 by 4 pm. The athletic director flags the football session.

  2. Decision: run at 4 pm under the 2-hour cap with four 4-minute breaks an hour, or push to 6:30 pm. The AD pushes. The bus, the trainers and the parents hear now, not at 3:45.

  3. WBGT reading 15 minutes before practice: 79.4, the 76.3–81.0 band. Breaks go on the plan and the ice-water tub is filled on the sideline.

  4. Flash lightning alert: a strike is predicted inside the site radius within the next 60 minutes. The field clears.

  5. Last strike inside the radius. Flash starts the all-clear timer.

  6. All clear. Practice resumes; the alert log records who was warned, when, and when play returned.

What should the athletic director keep on file?

The handbook recommends daily weight charts for high-risk athletes; Connecticut law requires heat illness education for coaches and an emergency action plan. Keeping these together means a question from the CIAC, the district or a parent is answered from one folder.

  • WBGT readings with times, starting 10–15 minutes before practice, and the decision each one triggered.
  • Before-and-after-practice weight charts for high-risk athletes.
  • Each coach's heat illness education record.
  • The emergency action plan, with ice-water immersion at practices and games.
  • The Flash alert log: lightning alerts, who was notified, the all-clear, and the 6-hour outlook the schedule decision was based on.

Which other states publish WBGT policies?

Every state page follows this template: verified thresholds, the reading cadence, what to keep on file, and where the WBGT forecast fits.

Heat haze over an open field at midday, the conditions each state association's WBGT policy sets practice limits for

State by state

Same instrument, different bands — the WBGT forecast travels with you.

All state heat policies

Sources

  1. CIAC — Medical Handbook 2026-2027, Heat Stress and Athletic Participation, pp. 22–25. Category 1 WBGT table, reading timing, water breaks, ice-water immersion, weight checks. Checked 15 Oct 2026.ciac.fpsports.org/resources/Resources/Medical%20Handbook%202026-2027.pdf (opens in a new tab)

CIAC documents are published at ciac.fpsports.org (opens in a new tab).

Frequently asked

No. The CIAC bands run on a WBGT measurement taken at the site before practice. Flash's 6-hour outlook tells you where that reading is heading — a scheduling tool, not a compliance instrument.

The handbook says 10 to 15 minutes before practice, and to test the air before practice or a game. Use the result to decide whether practice or a contest starts, is modified or stops.

Category 1. The handbook prints the Category 1 bands as the WBGT index for the State of Connecticut, citing Grundstein et al. 2015.

Live demo · No sensors required for the forecast

See your own sites on the map before the next storm.

We'll load your locations, replay last season's strikes against Flash's predictions, and show you the alert log your safety officer would have received.

Book a demoSee pricing