Case Study: Polk County Public Schools achieves enhanced student‑athlete safety from heat and lightning with DTN's WeatherSentry

Tackling heat and lightning dangers to student-athletes

Polk County Public Schools (PCPS), one of Florida’s largest districts with more than 150 schools, roughly 110,000 students, and coverage of 1,850 square miles, faced persistent threats from lightning and heat that jeopardized outdoor athletics and safety. Athletic director Dan Talbot needed a reliable way to comply with state heat mandates and quickly warn coaches and staff about nearby lightning — challenges addressed by DTN’s WeatherSentry® weather visualization and alerting system.

DTN implemented WeatherSentry across desktops and smartphones district-wide, providing WBGT heat monitoring, unlimited custom text alerts (notifying coaches when lightning is within 30, 15, and 8 miles and sending all-clear messages), and a consult-a-meteorologist service for rapid decisions. The result: faster, confidence-backed cancel/delay choices in minutes, better enforcement of Florida’s WBGT thresholds (e.g., the 92.1°F limit for outdoor activity), reduced costly bus holds, measurable time and cost savings, and improved safety for thousands of student-athletes and nearly 50,000 bus-dependent students.

Polk County Public Schools

Dan Talbot

Athletic Director