Discussion: Weather policy?

Are people aware of whether Federations or clubs have a weather policy for orienteering races?

Lightning, extreme cold or extreme heat?, wind?

How about other sports' policies? Thx

From http://www.mnoc.org/meets.shtml

Meets are only canceled for extreme weather conditions in winter. A meet will be canceled if the wind chill is a sustained -20°F or below at the start time of the event. At other times of the year, extreme weather can occur with little or no advance warning, therefore: In case of lightning or other severe weather, participants should take shelter and/or proceed at their own risk.

I've often wondered how many of their meets get canceled in the winter. Isn't it always < -20F wind chill in the winter in Minnesota? :)

Around here its the responsibilty of the "controller". A role which does not appear to exist in some countries. Would make the call to cancel (extremely rare). More often will implement a clothing and whistle check at the start.

There is no "standard weather situation" and no "standard terrain" so there are no standard criteria for cancellation.

At one point the COF did put some effort into a policy regarding extreme heat, (and maybe also extreme cold). Probably available through the COF channels.

I don't recall anything from the COF regarding tornado warnings, flooding, or extreme wind/rainfall, but one would think common sense and prudence would dictate the course of action that a reasonable participant would expect.

I've participated in an RMOC meet during a tornado warning (with sirens and PA announcements saying to take cover). I think there were three of us still out on courses when this happened -- I was one of the last starters because I was a meet worker. We were hoping to get to see a tornado (which we didn't, though I heard that a funnel cloud was spotted not too far away), but I was also keeping an eye on where the nearest ditch was on the map the whole time. I've also orienteered in flood conditions (with courses slightly adjusted to eliminate inaccessible controls), in thunderstorms, and through a forest fire, as well as a meet where it was known that there was bubonic plague in the terrain (seriously!).

I've been registered for one meet that had the second day canceled due to an unexpected early October snowfall, but that's the only time I can remember a cancelation due to conditions (other than ski-Os canceled for lack of snow).

Controllers doing a clothing check? It has been a rare event that I've been to with a clothing check, and I hope to never see one again.

I believe there is a rule for international Ski-O events specifying a minimum temperature, which I think is around 0 F/-18 C.

I thought ski-o followed FIS rules about -4F/-20C cut-off, but maybe not. 0F is more realistic when it comes to prevent lung burn.

JJ, can we have some stories about the area with the bubonic plague, please?

Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado, where the 1000-Day had a lot of its races in the early days, has a prairie dog population that at times has been known to be infected with plague (which is not that uncommon). The meet notes had warnings to keep away from, and definitely not handle, any dead prairie dogs. I think the same warning was posted to warn all visitors to the national monument -- chances of infection are very low if you use your head, and plague is treatable with antibiotics these days.
http://www.nps.gov/flfo/planyourvisit/yoursafety.h...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague#Treatm...

Thank you for highlighting the reference to MNOC's weather policy .. we have a lot of fun weather here. We built our policy around the high school cross country ski league policy.

As for winter statistics we have had to cancell only 1 winter event in the last 10 years . We do make winter events mass start score O 90 min (or less if weather is bad) in a concentrated area so as to a) limit the following of tracks in the snow and b) keep the event more contained for cold weather safety.

From OCIN's website:
"OCIN Events are held rain, shine or snow. In the event of severe storm or snow emergency, check this site on the morning of event."
and from our safety plan:
"5. Severe weather
Thunderstorm in progress, Severe Thunderstorm Warning
or Tornado Warning will delay start. Participants will be
advised of watches, high water conditions, etc."
We have held events in sub-zero weather and deep snow. Pretty much the only time we cancel is if the park won't let us in (has happened after a couple ice or wind storms) or roads are closed due to snow storm or flooding.

USOF ski-O rules do contain a section of weather related rules.

Good point about the lung burn issue, Alex. I can remember quite well one US Champs Long years ago when, perhaps due to the extreme cold, the jury clearly huddled quite closely together around the thermometer to get a very careful look.

You might also note that the rule does not address what mathematical precision is to be used in rounding off the measurement, nor at what location the measurement is to be taken.

There were several people affected that day. Frostbite being the most reported, though I remember at least one contender had to abandon, and no doubt some number of unreported lung burns.

Looks like the IOF cold weather rules for ski-O are a bit more comprehensive. And no doubt have been updated much more recently than USOF. Found in section 35 (page 26) of this PDF

I thought ski-o followed FIS rules about -4F/-20C cut-off, but maybe not

You are correct.

35.3 If the temperature in a major portion of the course is minus 20° C or below, the competition shall be delayed or cancelled. Such decision is to be made jointly by the organiser and the IOF Event Adviser.

At the other end oft he spectrum from OCIN is HVO, where the same event was canceled (actually postponed) three times in a 12-month period due to weather-related issues.

It finally happened at the end of March.

What's a little snow...Check out SMOC website photo at

http://michigano.org/general-info.htm
Rain, shine or (Snow!)

and meet report for April 24, 2005 at

http://michigano.org/results/050424.htm


From NOAA website info (note White Lake NWS is 3 miles NE of the meet site.)
14 inches of snow at SMOC meet on April 24, 2005


NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
1100 PM EDT SUN APR 24 2005
THE SNOWFALL TOTALS LISTED BELOW INCLUDE THE OFFICIAL CLIMATE DATA
FOR DETROIT...FLINT...SAGINAW AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE IN WHITE LAKE. PLEASE NOTE THAT NEW SNOWFALL LISTED DOES NOT
REPRESENT ACTUAL SNOW DEPTH AS THE WARM GROUND CONTINUES TO MELT THE
SNOW.
STORM PERIOD LIQUID SNOW
LOCATION TOTAL (HRS) PRECIP DEPTH
WAYNE
DETROIT METRO 3.9 30 0 .46 2.0


OAKLAND County
WHITE LAKE NWS 14.3 36 1.35 11.0
HIGHLAND 12.0 36 8.0
END

BTW,. how does an orienteer get 'lung burn' at 0F, but my snowboarding son and his friends are OK with that? Or the Birkie this year where 7000 skiers started below 0F?

It is my understanding that what people call "lung burn" is a feeling, not actual damage to lungs. It would be pretty damn hard to actually damage your lungs just by exercising in the cold. But, some people will feel a burning or get a hacking cough while exercising in colder weather. The actual danger of exercising in the cold is frostbite and damage to extremities.

The most common thing events get called off for in Australia is high fire risk, particularly early in the season (although we don't have many forest events in summer). The only other weather-related cancellations I can remember are one where the access road was flooded, and one due to heavy snow (or to be more precise the large number of falling trees under the weight of the snow - the snow on its own wouldn't have been a major issue).

The below -20 over a large part of the course rule is an interesting one: in undulating terrain over snow cover in clear, calm conditions, it would not be at all surprising for there to be temperature differences of 10 C or more between higher and lower ground, perhaps even more if the low ground is in the form of enclosed depressions. Even without snow cover, I've seen early-morning temperature differences of 14 C between two sites a few km apart (one on a ridge, one in a valley) in eastern Australia.