VPSU league rules state that a decision to postpone a meet because of weather must be made at the meet site and shall not be made sooner than 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. In general, no less than one-half or more than one and one-half hour shall elapse between the time a delay is called and a decision to postpone is made. If agreement cannot be reached between the coaches and team representatives about postponement or the time that competition is to be renewed in the event of a weather delay, the Meet Director's decision shall prevail. Postponed meets shall be swum the next day unless circumstances beyond the home team's control preclude it and, in all cases, swum within one (1) week. Postponed meets are resumed at the point at which they were when swimming stopped.

Lightning: Pool lifeguards, duly authorized pool management or the Meet Director may delay a meet for lightning or other safety factors. The decision on when to resume a meet (if the lifeguard or pool management permits it) shall be finally decided by the Meet Director after consultation with coaches, VPSU team representatives and the meet referee.

Explanation: One of the challenges of evening swim meets is the frequency of late-afternoon and evening summer thunderstorms. Every summer, nearly every team has at least one meet that must be rescheduled. Occasionally, meets must be rescheduled repeatedly because of a string of thunderstorms on successive days.

The VPSU rule attempts to balance the need to maintain the highest level of safety for the swimmer and the desire to minimize rescheduling and the considerable inconvenience it poses to families of the swimmers. Because weather patterns on the peninsula can be very localized, (a severe storm on one side of town - clear skies on the other), and quickly changing, it was determined that the only way to really know if a meet can be held (or not) is to see what the weather is at the meet site, at the time of the meet. Be assured that officials will closely monitor not only the skies, but weather radar as available through the weather channel and websites, to make the best decisions possible in as timely a manner as possible. If a meet is delayed due to thunder/lightning, please don't leave until it has been officially postponed until another day, and the makeup day is announced. Storms can move through an area fairly quickly. We may indeed be resuming the meet after the storm has passed through and we will need our swimmers there to do so. Almost every venue has a clubhouse or other safe area where we can wait out a storm - for those who prefer to wait in their car, we'll send someone out to let you know what is happening once a decision is made.