Classes may be cancelled or rescheduled due to court conditions for any level of offering when the coach determines the conditions are unsafe or too harsh for enjoyment or productive learning. We strive to provide registered class members notification of status for outdoor group classes as early as possible.

In the summer we work to only cancel classes based on actual conditions as much as possible.

• In the summer we mostly make cancellation decisions on actual conditions, and target notification of a cancellation at least an hour before class time.

In the winter we are more likely to cancel classes based on the forecast of cold, windy or wet weather.

• In the colder months we rely more on the forecast and try to decide and notify 12 to 24 hours in advance.

Weather Cancellations may come from your coach or Advantage Tennis via email, or from the event calendar notification, or in some cases via a location’s Status Page.

• For certain group lessons you can also check the status page for late-breaking updates.
• You can always check with your coach and you will need to for private lessons.

If a class is playing and bad weather strikes, forcing the coach or players to cancel the class, the class credit will be used if the class was 51% or more complete when it had to be stopped.

• I.e. a class is scheduled for 4:00-5:00pm. If rain starts at 4:25 and play stops, the class is considered cancelled and eligible for credits/refunds. If rain stops the class at 4:35 the class has completed more than 51% and will be considered a completed class, ineligible for credits/refunds.

We have been subject to more weather cancellations due to precipitation every year for at least several years in a row.  Simultaneously we’ve been getting milder and milder winters such that we now play though the winter.  Every time we cancel it takes resources we could spend in other better way, and whether or not we have the benefit of playing through the winter outweighs the cancellations in the other 3 seasons remains to be seen.  The future is just looking more extreme.

If a player has a physical condition, such as asthma or heart disease, that could be aggravated by exercise and/or weather conditions, the coach must be notified. The player and their parent need to be on the same page with their coach.

It is the player’s responsibility to protect themselves from the rays of the sun. We recommend hats, sunglasses, and UV protective clothing, as well as an appropriate sunscreen of at least SPF 30 applied liberally to exposed skin. Sun exposure can be damaging in any season.

Players are responsible for dressing for athletics and the weather.

Wind.

Playing in the wind is a fact of life for tennis players. High winds can impact tennis classes in the warm summer weather, and even more dramatically in the colder weather.

Windy conditions can be so extreme as to inhibit an effective learning or practicing environment. This is particularly true with low compression balls (e.g., red, orange, green). If a coach judges that the learning or practice objectives, including having fun, cannot be met due to extreme wind conditions the class may be cancelled or rescheduled.

Playing tennis in the wind is part of playing tennis and conquering it in your mind is the first step to playing better tennis in the wind.

Wind can diminish the temperatures we teach in. Coaching in the 40s needs calm conditions.

Warm and Hot Weather

Rain causes slick courts and is one of the most common reasons to cancel offerings. The risk of injury on slick courts is most acute for higher performance players who are stronger and able to move with more force.

An additional consideration can be around rain and rain remnants which get balls wet. Playing with wet balls fluffs the fuzz and ruins the ball for future use and we may elect to wait for further drying.

Wet courts generally take hours to dry.  With bright sun and a breeze non-puddling courts may dry in a couple hours, or less on low humidity.   On a cloudy humid day, courts may take 3 to 5 hours to dry, or longer.

Lightning or any other natural or man-made dangers are rare but may cause offerings to be cancelled/rescheduled. We are likely to tolerate distant thunder, but we will not play with lightning around.

Heat index (temperature and humidity) and air quality index are both used as criteria to evaluate the need to modify levels of physical activity, or possibly curtail them altogether. Children, older adults, and people with heart or lung disease/issues are particularly prone to the effects of heat and air quality.  Children suffer thermal stress more than adults due to their ratio of relative surface area-to-body size.

If the heat index exceeds 90 and/or the air quality index exceeds 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) students and campers will be notified. If the heat index exceeds 95 and/or the air quality index exceeds 150 the coach may modify, cancel, or reschedule the session based on the unhealthy conditions.  Be aware, be careful.

Shade, fans, and misting fans are examples of heat index mitigation that may be available depending on the location.

Send your kids to the courts with a water bottle they can be responsible for, and they can hydrate.

In the warm weather months, we try to make go/no-go decisions on actual conditions, striving for at least an hour in advance of the class’s start time.

Cool and Cold Weather

The 2023-24 winter is forecasted to be an El Nino pattern for our region – see NOAA’s outlook.

With the modern “tech fabrics” we no longer need nice 60 degree days for tennis.  Here is how we’ve found the human comfort goes:

• Wind:  In cold weather the wind is the biggest detractor of comfortable feelings for us.
• 60s:  Once you get moving if you put an outer layer on you will probably take it off and are likely to find yourself playing in shorts or short sleeves.
• 50s:  With non-cotton layers it is very comfortable to play on a calm, cloudy day in the 50s, with an extra layer.
• 40s:   With the same tech fabrics it is very comfortable to play on a calm sunny day in the 40s, and you will probably take at least half a layer off, although you may want light gloves for your hands.
  • On a cloudy day in the 40s you’ll probably be leaving both layers on, and appreciate the light gloves
• 30s or Feels-like 30s:   We might start a class in the upper 30s if it will be in the 40s by the time the class is finished, but otherwise we don’t generally play in the 30s.

Here is an informational article on how we need to hydrate in the winter.

The effect of cold on the efficacy of the tennis balls is a primary consideration for our cold weather policy. Tennis balls lose their bounce and play “heavy” when their temperatures are down in the 40s. (Not as true for pickleballs)

• Cold, improperly bouncing balls can give players a false sense of their movement needs and their stroke outcomes. This can lead their mental/visual and neuro-muscular system toward incorrect habits.

Additionally, wind has a more dramatic impact on the flight of the low compression balls, particularly Red and Orange, and pickleballs.

We find tennis balls to be performant enough on cloudy days in the 50s.

• If the sun is sufficiently intense to warm the court surface and the balls, the sun-warmed balls in temperatures in the mid-40s can play as well as they would in the low 50s.

Substituting balls to counter-act the cold:  As the low compression balls lose their bounce, we can substitute the next level of higher compression ball and still get adequate  teaching results.

Additionally, high level players who can rally consistently and aggressively can keep the tennis ball in play warm by rallying.

As the days get colder the hours of playable temperatures shrink until the mid-day hours are the most likely to be playable, and then spring is not far away, we hope.

Wet courts generally take longer hours to dry in the cold than in warm weather.  With bright sun and a breeze non-puddling courts may dry in a several hours, or less on low humidity days.   On a cloudy overcast day, courts may take 4 to 8 hours to dry, or longer.

In the cold weather months, we try to make decision 12 to 24 hours in advance, if possible, based on the forecast and radar of weather.com.  In the late fall, early spring or winter season Advantage Tennis may communicate some cancellations 24 to 36 hours in advance.

The in cold weather the wind is a bigger factor than the cold itself on most days.

From 2020 to 2023 we had La Nina weather patterns, which moved the jetstream north. In the winter of 2023-2024 we are experiencing an El Nino weather pattern.  The Northern Virginia region is on the cusp of the weather patterns but in general El Nino increases the odds of warmth and precipitation.

The average daily temperatures for our region are:

• December: highs in the mid-40s, and lows in the low 30s
• January: highs in the low-to-mid 40s, and lows in the mid-20s
• February: highs in the mid-to-upper 40s, and lows in the upper 20s.

From warmest to coldest of the winter months:  February – December – January

If the actual winter weather behaves like the historical model:

• In January only the middle of the day will be playable.
• In January and February, because the lows are still in the 20s, the mornings will be less playable than the evenings
• In December, January, and February temperatures drop off relatively quickly as the sun goes down.

We do not have historical data on the winds, and winds over 10 mph are not considered to be calm conditions, but may be playable in the 50s.

• Spring is generally windier than fall; and March/April are the windiest months.   We think that February is generally windier than December.

We need calm weather in the 40s to play.

Here is our preferred weather forecast for NoVA.

We use the Hourly, 10-Day, and Radar, to make a weather decision. We consider temperature, wind, humidity and any other ecological or natural factors such as lightning or court debris such as leaves and twigs.