Weather Challenge
One of our core purposes at Trackers is teaching children to prepare for the day in front of them and do well in it, whatever the weather brings. Sun, rain, heat, cold, and sometimes smoke are all part of a life outdoors, and we plan for each of them.
Some conditions ask us to change the shape of the day. When that happens, we modify activities or move to different sites. When we cannot modify, Trackers may cancel programs and schedule a make-up day. When make-up days or indoor options are provided, credits and refunds cannot be made available. If changes need to be made, we decide by 6:30 am the day of programming and contact families by text and email.
Every child has their own comfort threshold, and no one knows your child better than you. Guardians are always welcome to use their best judgment.
How We Read the Weather
Trackers has run programs safely in every season this region offers for over twenty years. Our team relies on NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the National Weather Service, for forecasts and conditions, and we encourage families to use the same source. Commercial weather apps and news broadcasts tend to lead with extremes because that is what holds attention. NOAA simply reports the conditions. When you want to know what your child’s day will actually look like, check the hourly forecast there.
Warm Weather
We know the feeling. You check the news before camp, see a heat advisory over the newsfeeds, and wonder whether to keep your kid home. That instinct means you are paying attention, and we respect that. We want to share what we know, so that attention has good information behind it.
Heat advisories cover an entire region and are written for its highest risk situations: road crews at midday, athletes practicing in full sun, neighbors without air conditioning. Our camp day with us looks different. Most of it happens in the cooler hours, in forest shade, near water, at a pace we adjust ahead of the heat. It also helps to know that on most warm days, the daily high arrives around 4 pm or later, often after camp has ended. The 98 on the news usually shows up after your child is already home.
On warm days at camp:
- Participants spend time in cool, shaded areas as much as possible, and shade structures are added to spaces not already covered by trees.
- Drinking water is available at all times, with extra refill stations on warm days, and Guides do frequent hydration and sunscreen checks.
- Higher energy activities happen in the cooler morning hours whenever possible. As the day warms, camp shifts to slower games, crafts, stories, skills, and water play, with shaded rest built into the day.
- Whenever possible, activities move to wading sites, sprinklers, or air conditioned spaces.
- On the hottest days, programming moves indoors. In specific circumstances we may limit program hours or cancel, and Guardians are notified as soon as possible.
We also believe a warm day is worth learning from. Knowing how to slow down, find shade, drink water, and keep going in a different form is a real outdoor skill, and your child will use it on every trail they ever walk without us. We have taught it safely for over twenty years.
Cold
- Participants occupy cool and shaded areas as much as possible.
- Shade structures are added to activity spaces not already shaded by trees.
- Whenever possible, camp activities will be rerouted to water wading sites.
Participants have access to drinking water at all times, consistently refilling their water bottles. - We perform numerous hydration checks, reminding campers to drink water.
- Activities requiring physical exertion are limited to the cooler morning hours.
- Participants are constantly monitored for any heat-related concerns.
- In specific circumstances, we may limit program hours or cancel specific days due to high temperatures and Guardians are notified as soon as possible.
Cold
Cold, rain, and snow are normal for a life outdoors, and some of the best days at Trackers happen under gray skies. The key is dressing properly. Check the NOAA report each morning and send your child layered for the day’s conditions. A warm, dry kid does just fine out there.
In certain circumstances, we may limit program hours or cancel specific days when snow or ice affects transportation. We assess driving conditions within a 4 mile radius of pick-up and drop-off locations, and we cannot account for micro-climate road conditions at individual addresses.
Air Quality
Wildfire smoke is part of late summer in the Pacific Northwest. We monitor the Air Quality Index throughout each program day using AirNow, the same public source we recommend to families, and our thresholds are simple enough to check against the numbers yourself:
- AQI 0 to 50: Normal programming.
- AQI 51 to 100: Programming continues as planned. Campers with asthma, breathing concerns, or other health needs are offered the choice to slow down or step out of activities, and Guides lower intensity for them early. Campers with an Asthma Action Plan follow that plan.
- AQI 101 to 150: All programming shifts to gentler, lower intensity activities. Stories, crafts, and skills work well on these days
- AQI above 150: Outdoor activity moves indoors or to an area with better air quality. When that is not possible, we may limit hours or cancel.
On smoke days, bus windows stay closed and the air conditioning runs on recirculate to keep ride time protected as well.
A Word About the Forecast
When the news gets loud, we ask families to look at the actual numbers, the hourly forecast and the AQI for your child’s site. We will also tell you what the day actually looked like, because being outdoors all day is not the same as exerting all day. On a warm afternoon, that often means stories in the shade, crafts, skills, and wading, with the running games long behind us in the cool of the morning. We will never tell you a hard day was easy, and we will not describe an ordinary warm day as something it was not. That honesty is how we keep your trust on the ordinary days, so you can rely on us completely on the rare day that truly calls for caution.
Questions?
Please contact our Customer Success team with any questions or needs: hello@trackersearth.com.