This is summer, and many of you are having field days and other outdoor activities. It’s not too late to ask if you have a plan for what to do in case of severe weather. This can include not only tornadoes and high winds but also heavy rain and lightning as well as extreme heat.
Some outdoor events are required by their insurers to hire a meteorologist to be present to document rain or to provide advanced notice of impending storms in the area. Others rely on lightning detectors and weather apps and hope that will provide them with enough advance notice to put evacuation plans in place (if they know where to send the crowds). Here are a couple of recent stories about events that have been adversely affected by weather and what you should do to protect yourself and your attendees.
The Capital Weather Gang describes some recent weather-related deaths and what you need to do to prevent injuries and litigation here.
The Weather Channel has a similar story with photos from Chicago’s Lollapalooza music festival. In this case the park was evacuated and many people took shelter in parking garages. No injuries were reported from nearby severe weather, but a number of evacuees were left standing out in the open outside of the park and they were lucky that the storms stayed to the north of the area of shelter.
