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An empty floodlit high school football field at dusk with heat haze over the turf, the kind of Virginia practice the VHSL WBGT levels are written for

State heat policy · Virginia (VHSL) · Verified 15 Oct 2026

Virginia high school heat policy: VHSL WBGT levels, practice limits, and how to plan around them

The VHSL Heat Acclimatization Guidelines recommend WBGT for judging heat and humidity, and set six levels that shape how long practice runs, how much players drink, what football players wear and whether a scrimmage or game goes ahead. Here are the levels as the VHSL 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 VHSL Heat Acclimatization Guidelines (vhsl.org) · Updated 15 Oct 2026 · 7 min read

WBGT outlook · Field B · 6 hours

12:58

87.582921 pm2 pm3 pm4 pm5 pm6 pm
  • 4 pm · 88.1 — Level 5, 87.5–89.9
  • Under 87.5 after 5:15

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

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

What does the VHSL require?

The VHSL guidelines call the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature the recommended method for assessing conditions, and say it should decide the nature of any modification to practices and competitions. When high temperatures or humidity are forecast, supervisors should add water and rest breaks, reduce equipment, cut practice time or change location. Forecasting tools can help plan, but the guidelines are clear that they never replace real-time evaluation on site at the activity location.

Two things are firm requirements. Schools sponsoring athletics must have an emergency action plan for each athletic venue. And under Handbook rule 27-10-4, schools follow the fall practice guidelines — during the first six days, no practice over three hours and no more than five hours a day — or adopt locally approved policies that keep athletes safe from hot and humid conditions.

  • Measure on site

    WBGT is the recommended method. Forecasts and apps help you plan but never replace the on-site evaluation at the venue.

  • Fluids by level

    From 4–6 oz every 20 minutes at Level 2 up to 8–10 oz every 15 minutes at Levels 4 and 5, with ice available.

  • Acclimatization

    Athletes acclimatize to heat gradually over 7–14 days. Fall tryouts follow the Handbook practice-time limits.

  • Weigh-ins and water

    Supervised pre- and post-practice weights. Water available at all times; access is never denied.

The VHSL WBGT level table

Six levels, read in degrees Fahrenheit from a WBGT device at the activity site. The VHSL prints duration, fluids, practices and contests as separate columns; fluids are listed under the table. The row colour follows the Flash alert scale your athletic trainers already see in the app.

VHSL WBGT participation recommendations for Virginia high school athletics: six levels from under 80 to 90.0 and above, with practice duration, practice gear and water breaks, and scrimmage and contest rules
WBGT (°F)DurationPracticesScrimmages and contests
Level 1 · Under 803 hours maximumFull gear; minimum of 3 water breaks per hourNo modifications
Level 2 · 80.0 – 82.43 hours maximumFull gear; minimum of 3 water breaks per hourNo modifications
Level 3 · 82.5 – 84.93 hours maximumRemove helmets unless active in drill; minimum of 3 water breaks per hourMonitor athletes, rest as needed
Level 4 · 85.0 – 87.43 hours maximum; includes max of 45 minutes of work and ≥ 15 minutes of rest in a shaded or air-conditioned space each hourNo equipment during non-contact drills; remove helmet unless active in contact drill; remove equipment when instructional periods exceed 10 minutes; minimum of 4 water breaks per hourMonitor athletes, rest as needed
Level 5 · 87.5 – 89.92 hours maximum; includes max of 40 minutes of work and ≥ 20 minutes of rest in a shaded or air-conditioned space each hourNo equipment- shirts and shorts only; reduce intensity of activity; minimum of 4 water breaks per hourMonitor athletes, rest as needed. Remove helmets if not actively participating
Level 6 · 90.0 +NO OUTDOOR PRACTICES, SCRIMMAGES or COMPETITIONSPractices conducted indoors must follow the Heat PolicyDelay/postpone scrimmage or game until conditions improve

Source: VHSL Heat Acclimatization Guidelines, Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) Participation Recommendations, linked from vhsl.org, verified 15 Oct 2026. Ranges as printed. Fluid consumption by level: 1, insist that adequate fluid be ingested; 2, insist that 4 – 6 oz fluid be ingested every 20 minutes; 3, 6 – 8 oz every 20 minutes; 4 and 5, 8 – 10 oz every 15 minutes — ice available from Level 2; 6, re-hydrate 24 oz for every pound of body weight loss per day.

Where does Flash fit?

Flash is a forecast for planning, not an on-site meter: the VHSL guidelines say forecasts never replace the real-time reading at the venue. 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 six VHSL levels. 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 levels are the VHSL'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 VHSL WBGT planning day in Virginia

6:30 pm · The reading that decides the day

The level you land in sets the clock, the fluids and the gear.

  1. Flash 6-hour WBGT outlook for the practice field: 86 by 2 pm, Level 4, into 87.5–89.9, Level 5, by 3 pm. The athletic director flags the football session.

  2. Decision: run at 4 pm under Level 5 — 2 hours maximum, shirts and shorts only, 20 minutes of shaded rest each hour — or push to 6:30 pm. The AD pushes. The bus, the trainers and the parents hear now, not at 3:45.

  3. On-site reading at the field: 84.1, Level 3. Helmets off unless active in a drill, at least three water breaks an hour, 6 – 8 oz of fluid every 20 minutes and ice on hand.

  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 VHSL levels are recommendations, and the emergency action plan and fall practice limits are rules. Keeping these together means a question from the VHSL, the division or a parent is answered from one folder.

  • On-site WBGT readings with times, the level each fell in and the modification it triggered: duration, fluids, gear, contests.
  • Supervised pre- and post-practice weights, and any athlete whose activity was restricted for not being within 1% of the previous day.
  • The emergency action plan for each athletic venue, with cold-water immersion ready for suspected heat stroke.
  • Fall practice schedules showing the Handbook 27-10-4 limits, or the locally approved policy used instead.
  • 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. VHSL — Heat Acclimatization Guidelines, with the WBGT Participation Recommendations table. Levels, fluids, practice and contest modifications. Verified 15 Oct 2026.drive.google.com/file/d/1ulZ0EuQj4F7rumEXZnQnplSj1qbopL8z/view?usp=sharing (opens in a new tab)
  2. VHSL — Sports Medicine, Heat & Hydration page, which links the Heat Guide. Verified 15 Oct 2026.vhsl.org/sports-medicine/heat-hydration/ (opens in a new tab)
  3. VHSL — 2026-27 Handbook and Policy Manual, rule 27-10-4, Fall Practice Guidelines. Verified 15 Oct 2026.drive.google.com/file/d/1j-77TvSbMm_YeSWP9fpDgKjFCItmKdKF/view?usp=drive_link (opens in a new tab)

VHSL documents are published at vhsl.org (opens in a new tab).

Frequently asked

No. The VHSL guidelines say forecasting tools can help planning but never replace the real-time evaluation of conditions on site. Flash's 6-hour outlook tells you where that reading is heading — a scheduling tool, not a measurement at the venue.

They are published as participation recommendations, and WBGT is the recommended method. The fall practice limits in Handbook rule 27-10-4 and an emergency action plan for each venue are requirements.

Yes. The table has its own column for scrimmages and contests: no modifications at Levels 1 and 2, monitor athletes and rest as needed at Levels 3 to 5, and at 90.0 and above delay or postpone the scrimmage or game until conditions improve.

No outdoor practices, scrimmages or competitions. Practices held indoors must still follow the heat policy.

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