Hi Parents — I told Cheri I would touch base with all of you in regards to the abrupt shortening of rehearsal tonight. As an outdoor activity, we have to follow the guidelines for lightning safety which include ceasing activities for 30 minutes after a lightning strike within 6 miles.
Cheri and I were watching the radar all day and thought we would be clear but storms developed sooner than expected (and came farther north than they looked like they were going to go). Once we got the lightning strike indicator within the 6 mile radius, Cheri had the kids make contact with you for pick-up and we moved them inside the concession stand building for shelter. (Open-air pavilions are not acceptable shelter locations from lightning.) We are not able to resume activities until 30 minutes have passed since the last lightning strike within that 6 mile radius. In the case of tonight rehearsal would not have been able to resume before it was past the scheduled end time as lightning continued after that initial strike that forced the stoppage of rehearsal.
Thank you for your flexibility and quick response tonight.
As you can imagine, weather conditions will have a significant role to play on our performance week. I will go through a more detailed explanation of our weather plan closer to show week.
