Have you noticed that orange ball perched on a tripod on the sidelines of Caldwell County’s outdoor athletic events? Caldwell County Athletic Director Jeff Riley joined Tess on WPKY’s “Coffee Talk” Wednesday morning to introduce and explain just what that new technology is, and how its been implemented in all outdoor Caldwell athletic events across the board, including practice. The WetBulb Globe is successfully helping our officials keep our althletes safe in all types of weather conditions, including this week’s bout of extremely high temperatures, as the traditionally utilized heat index, reached triple digits. Riley explained the most important thing to him, and all our Caldwell officials and coaching staff, is athlete safety. Riley says, the KHSAA describes the globe as the “gold standard”, and takes into consideration ALL of the atmospheric conditions. Listen to the full visit below as he explains how they determine how hot, is too HOT, and how Caldwell officials come to that conclusion.
The National Weather Service website describes the WetBulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) as: a measure of the heat stress in direct sunlight, which takes into account: temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover (solar radiation). This differs from the heat index, which takes into consideration temperature and humidity and is calculated for shady areas. If you work or exercise in direct sunlight, this is a good element to monitor. Military agencies, OSHA and many nations use the WBGT as a guide to managing workload in direct sunlight. www.weather.gov/news/211009-WBGT
