If the Aquatics Department makes the decision to close the outdoor pools due to impending storms or cool rainy weather there is no practice. If you find the facility closed and it is not your closed day there is no practice.

If thunder begins during a practice the practice may continue out of the water.  Once lightning has been seen the facility must be cleared of all members.  Only staff is permitted to remain at the facility.  At this point it will be at the discretion of the coach and the timing of the storm to decided if additional scheduled practices will continue after the storm has passed.  Swimmers may get back into the water 30 min after the last noted thunder.

We will attempt to notify team managers, coaches, and our webmaster as soon as a city-wide decision is made.  As a general rule if the weather looks bad do not go to the pool.  Team managers and coaches should be communicating as to whether they wish to hold practice if no news has come from the Aquatics Department.  Sometimes severe storms will develop suddenly and the Aquatics Department has minimal time to notify everyone and get the staff to safety.  We will make the best judgment we can based on the forecast. 

Since regular season practice occurs during closed times it will be at the discretion of the coach as to whether to hold practice or not.  Teams are  expected to hold practice even if it is a little cool and there is light rain.  A rate of rain where the coaches cannot see the bottom of the pool is suggested to be canceled.  In Columbia we get many storms throughout the summer.  Coaches are advised to try and get some practices in before or after storms if possible and safe.  Many of our storms are also very isolated.  We may have stormy weather at River Hill and sunny skies at Kendall Ridge.  If weather appears to be severe a blanket decision for the city may be made.  Teams, coaches, and the webmaster will be notified as soon as possible.

Meets will be held unless weather is stormy.  A decision will be made by 6:30 am regarding the status of meets.  Teams may be asked to hold meets and get through as many events as possible.  Meets can be stopped and counted as officially done if you are able to make it through all the backstroke events.  Teams are permitted to temporarily stop meets in order to wait for passing weather to clear.  Decisions to temporarily suspend meets or determine their early completion should be made by the head coaches, team managers, pool managers, and head official together.  For the everyone's safety teams may be asked to sit in their cars until the storm has passed.  Every effort should be made to have a "completed" meet.  If meets need to be canceled for the day the Aquatics Department will work to reschedule the meet for Sunday morning.  Coaches are permitted to change their line up if necessary to accommodate the day change and availability of swimmers.  Due to Sunday programming at the pools there is the potential for pool location changes.  Every effort will be made to keep the meet at the home pool.  As a last resort a meet may be rescheduled for a closed pool evening or some other option determined by the Aquatics Department.  Again every effort should/will be made to have the meet on the scheduled Saturday morning.