Those thunderstorms sure came up quickly Wednesday night in Batesburg-Leesville! BUT…..thanks to Lexington Three’s new in-house weather station and monitoring system (called Perry Weather) everyone who was on the campus of B-L High School at either an outdoor practice or athletic/extracurricular event was safely evacuated out of the elements before the brunt of the storms arrived!
So what is Perry Weather? If you’ve been to Panther Stadium recently, you’ve likely seen the system’s weather station/hub that is housed at the top of the press box. This station monitors real-time lightning strikes, live and forecasted heat stress measurements (aka Wet Bulb Globe Temperature), live and future radar, wind speed, temperature, humidity, wind chill and rainfall totals. The system essentially provides our administrative team, school principals, coaches, band directors, and teachers who routinely work with students on extended outdoor classroom projects with an accurate weather forecast and then sends alerts straight to their phones before extreme weather arrives. The system also triggers an outdoor warning system, complete with a horn alert and siren, to notify anyone in the vicinity of impending weather, thus ensuring a coordinated, swift response to keep everyone safe.
Features You Should Know About:
If you attend an outdoor event at Batesburg-Leesville High School and hear the horn sound, know that severe weather is approaching and you should be ready to move to safety.
If you hear a horn and sirens simultaneously, then you need to move and seek shelter immediately. During gametime, PA announcers will also instantaneously make an announcement to vacate the field and stands and seek shelter immediately.
Perry Weather will notify coaches and staff when severe weather (such as lightning strikes) reaches a safe distance away and it’s okay to resume play.
Staff receive notifications with a Wet Bulb Globe Temperature. This essentially tells staff when the combination of heat and humidity is too excessive for students to fully participate in their activity and the activity should either be scaled back or postponed to later in the day when an acceptable temperature and humidity level is predicted.
Another important feature is that Perry Weather works district-wide, meaning the administrative teams and coaches at all of Lexington Three's schools also receive severe weather alerts. For instance, coaches hosting baseball practice at Batesburg-Middle School receive early warnings and notifications about seeking shelter, resuming safe play, etc. In addition, when our Panther teams go on the road for away games, coaches have the capability to receive severe weather alerts at out-of-district venues as well.
This is just one more way that Lexington Three is going the extra mile to keep our students, staff and Panther fans safe!
