The University of Massachusetts lifted its ban on nighttime outdoor activities Monday, according to an email released to the campus community.
The email followed the fall semester’s coldest weekend so far.
The weather late Friday night and early Saturday morning met the criteria of a hard or killing frost, and included at least two consecutive hours of temperatures of 28 degrees or less, which caused UMass to end the ban on dusk to dawn outdoor activities.
UMass Environmental Health and Safety, in conjunction with shared temperature tracking data from Amherst College, measured the freezing temperatures and got the “defining measurement” they needed to end the ban since they began checking in mid-September, UMass spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said.
The ban was put in to effect on Sept. 12 after state officials labeled Amherst, Hadley and Belchertown at high risk for the mosquito-borne illnesses Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus, limiting activities from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
This weekend’s hard frost killed the majority of the mosquito population and took away the threat of EEE. Blaguszewski said that was roughly when UMass expected the ban to be lifted.
Although the low temperatures also mean a move indoors for most University activities, Blaguszewski said that it is “good to have the green light to go ahead and conduct” outdoor activities anyway, as opportunities present themselves.
Some activities – such as campus recreation intramural games – were affected immediately by the removal of the restriction.
UMass Campus Recreation Intramurals Associate Director Jason Incorvati sent out messages and texts through the intramurals organizing website, imleagues.com, telling students that the EEE ban had been lifted and applied to Monday night games.
Similar restrictions on nighttime outdoor activities have also been removed by the Town of Amherst and all of the Five Colleges.
The hard frost comes just after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health identified two new cases of West Nile Virus in Boston last week.
Sam Hayes can be reached at [email protected].
