Today is the first day for high school football practices across Georgia, and the athletes will be dealing with unseasonably hot temperatures throughout their first week on the gridiron.
Also starting practice this week are high school cheerleaders, softball and volleyball players and cross country runners, according to the Georgia High School Association calendar, and many high school marching bands are holding camps.
It will be “very hot this week,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said. “Temperatures will reach the mid- to upper 90s in many locations.”
Minton said the rain chances are “pretty slim,” with only a 20 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms early in the week and again by week’s end.
Her predicted highs for Atlanta are 94 on Monday, 95 on Tuesday and 96 on Wednesday and Thursday.
The chance of rain is 20 percent on Monday and Thursday, increasing slightly to 30 percent on Friday, when highs will be around 95.
Normal high for early August is 89 degrees.
On Sunday, highs across the state included 96 in Atlanta, 100 in Augusta and 102 in Valdosta.
Last August, when temperatures were actually a few degrees cooler than this week’s projected highs, eight north Fulton high school students were treated for heat exhaustion during a band practice, and there were reports of several area high school football players suffering from the excessive heat.
The governing GHSA has rules in place for the first week of football practice that prohibit players from wearing full pads and contact gear for at least two of the days, while separate guidelines for practicing in heat and humidity dictate that each school or school system must have a written policy for practicing in the heat.
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