heat index<\/a>, but the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) measures something different: how much heat stress a person\u2019s body actually experiences outdoors.<\/p>\nThe heat index measures temperature and humidity in the shade. Football players and marching bands aren\u2019t practicing in the shade, they\u2019re often on concrete or fields under direct sunshine wearing heavy equipment or uniforms.<\/p>\n
The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature paints a much more complete picture of the heat athletes experience. Unlike the heat index, WBGT factors in:<\/p>\n
Air temperature<\/p>\n
Humidity<\/p>\n
Sunlight<\/p>\n
Wind speed<\/p>\n
Cloud cover<\/p>\n
Sun angle<\/p>\n
Heat index is a formula that is taken in the shade. Wet bulb measures heat in the sunshine (KPRC 2)<\/p>\n
That makes it a much better tool for determining when the human body can no longer cool itself effectively. Wet bulb addresses the impact of the heat not just what it \u201cfeels like.\u201d<\/p>\n
The measurement was first developed in the 1950s by the U.S. military after serious heat illness outbreaks during Army and Marine Corps training. Today, it\u2019s become the gold standard for protecting athletes from heat-related illness.<\/p>\n
The changes are designed to prevent heat-related illnesses and deaths among student athletes during Texas\u2019 hottest months.<\/p>\n
What was a recommendation is now a requirement (KPRC 2)What changes under the new rules?<\/p>\n
Schools must measure WBGT 15 minutes before practice.<\/p>\n
Readings must be repeated every 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Higher heat levels require more water breaks.<\/p>\n
Practice times become shorter.<\/p>\n
Cold-water immersion tubs or other rapid-cooling equipment are required.<\/p>\n
Extreme conditions mean outdoor practice must be delayed or canceled.<\/p>\n
The Ridgepoint band practicing Thursday evening. The 82 degrees is not the temperature, it’s the wet bulb globe temperature (KPRC 2)<\/p>\n
If a \u201chigh\u201d reading is measured, practice is limited to just one hour, including a mandatory 20-minute break. That leaves only 40 minutes of actual practice time.<\/p>\n
There are five categories that will affect practice time and breaks (KPRC 2)Here\u2019s Monday\u2019s WBGT forecast:<\/p>\n
This is a forecast for Monday at 4:00 PM. All state football teams start practice this day. If a team wanted to practice at 4:00 they couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one reason many schools have scheduled practices at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m. next week.<\/p>\n
The bigger challenge will come once school starts, when many teams traditionally practice immediately after classes end at 4:00 PM, the hottest part of the day. From the coaches I\u2019ve talked with, practice will start inside on a high or extreme day. <\/p>\n
An extreme reading is expected at 4:00 Monday afternoon (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)A different way of thinking about toughness:<\/p>\n
If you played football years ago, these rules may sound excessive. Many people will say, \u201cWe practiced in the heat, and we turned out fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
But today\u2019s reality is different.<\/p>\n
Our climate is hotter than it was decades ago, and we\u2019ve seen far too many tragic cases of young athletes dying from heat stroke after practicing in conditions their bodies simply couldn\u2019t handle.<\/p>\n
Texas has experienced record-breaking summer heat in recent years, and heat illness remains one of the biggest risks facing student athletes during preseason practices.<\/p>\n
The new rules are designed to keep students safe, not by eliminating tough practices, but by making sure dangerous heat doesn\u2019t turn deadly.<\/p>\n
The goal is simple: Every student goes home after practice.<\/p>\n
Anthony’s Weather Lab<\/p>\n
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football and marching band practices across Texas could look very different this school year. Beginning August 1, schools…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10829,300,171,3205,12278,12073,11455,27,29,28,138725],"class_list":["post-394191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-band","tag-football","tag-forecast","tag-heat","tag-heat-index","tag-houston-heat","tag-humidity","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-wet-bulb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}