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Colo. State Installs Lightning-Prediction System
s-orbital writes "According to Colorado State's Rocky Mountain Collegian, CSU has installed four ThorGuard Lightning Prediction systems for under $25,000 to help prevent a lightning-related death or injury on campus. Colorado has the third highest lightning death rate in the US, and
this system provides up to 20 minutes of early warning by 'analyzing the electrostatic field within a two-mile radius of the device. When a set amount of lightning-producing electrostatic buildup is detected, a horn will sound and a yellow strobe light will begin flashing, signaling that people in the area should seek shelter because lightning is imminent.'"
I've seen lighting reach out 75 miles to touch a C130.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
In all the years I have been using tabbed browsing...
As I click the link http://thorguard.com/ from above, I scared the crap out of me, and half of the IT department. I love tabbed browsing, Thanks Mozilla...
An excellent idea, but too late for these 30 kids who were injured by a "bolt from the blue" at football practice yesterday. And here I thought it was just an interesting figure of speech. In this case at least, literalism really hurts.
Bush Lies On the Record.
Is is because there's more lightning or are Coloradoans just stupider than moste people?
Create a device that can drain the electrostatic energy from the air before it reaches dangerous levels, and then use that energy to power devices?
BTW... Does it seem like Colorado is a popular place around here lately? What with wind power yesterday and the electoral college on Monday, and now Lightning Detection today...
Just install lightning rods all over the campus?
Sola Deo Gloria!
... shortly after deployment of the $25,000 system, it started flashing and was destroyed by lightning.
Wouldn't Colorado be easier to type? Or, if you're just trying to make it blazingly obvious that Colorado is a state, why not "The state of Colorado "?
...entrepreneurs are rushing to sell to nearby colleges, a design for a rear-weighted hat which keeps the wearer's eyes pointed toward the sky."
Sheesh, gimme a break -- people can't use common sense to tell when lightning is likely?
In the article, it is mentioned that lightning can travel 60 miles from storm and strike somewhere with "clear blue sky." They also cite this as being responsible for many of the lighning deaths in Colorado.
Patent: from Latin patere, to be open
run away!
run away!
Woot 2 CSU Stories in a day! Makes me not feel so bad going to a generic state college rather than...working hard.... -Chris
... have used a system like this for several years. With that in mind, I'm not sure why CSU's installation is newsworthy. /Don
"You can't necessarily just look at someone/something with the naked eye and tell if it's electrically charged"
I was assuming -- apparently erroneously -- that the weather would clearly indicate a risk of lightning. I've sinced learned that it can come in a "clear" sky.
This is all heresy! Systems like this interfere with God's plan. If he can't even get away with a good old fashioned smiting, what has he left?
As an atmospheric science graduate student at CSU (for the last 4+ years), I will tell you that common sense around here (while occasionally in short supply) would tell you that you should stay inside from noon to midnight pretty much every day during the summer. Guess I won't be seeing you out and about if you ever move out here.
Why? Colorado's front range lights up with thunderstorms pretty much every day during the summer. The lightning from these, though, typically stays in-cloud, but the bolts that do reach the ground may end up travelling tens of miles from the main storm. And storms that don't even have any evidence of rain hitting the ground may be just as dangerous as those with rain, so simple visible watching may not tell you any thing.
As a storm chaser, I can attest to this first hand. I was watching a beautiful storm in front of me one time. There were a few storms behind me developing at the time, but nothing severe. You can imagine how close I was to pissing my pants when a bolt from the blue... from the storms BEHIND ME... hit no more than a mile behind me.
For some reason, even the most innocent-looking storm out here can drop a bolt from the blue. I don't know what it is about the atmospheric conditions out here that lets this happen, but it does. (Not a lightning expert here... tropical weather for me.)
This system could be useful, but all in all, I think it's probably not a good investment. College students are the worst people in the world when it comes to following safety procedures. But, I applaud the interesting use of technology here, even if it probably won't be useful. But, if it saves one life, hell, $25K for a life could be worth it.
-Jellisky
...out-of-state visitors are more stupid. Visitors to the Alpine Visitors Center (elevation 11,796 ft) in Rocky Mountain National Park are frequently cautioned about lightning and park rangers tell visitors what the warning signs of an impending strike are and what to do to avoid being killed in that event. Yet visitors are injured and killed by lightning there every year.
Actually according to this web page Florida had the most lightning related deaths (126) from 1990-2003, Texas (52) was second, and Colorado (39) was third.
Sig cancelled due to lack of interest
--Chag
would make a great weapon but the trick was aiming it.
Go Look it up, that's your test for today.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
- Hey Bubba, it's raining. Looks like a thunderstorm.
- Hey Cletus, maybe we should go hide under the truck.
If Bubba and Cletus know that lightning usually strikes during a big rain storm, then these campus monkeys should know better. If they insist on having a multimillion dollar detection device, I'm willing to help their cause by living in a luxurious condo 24/7 with a 100mbit link to the outside world and I will gladly phone them whenever I hear a thunderstorm. You can wire the millions to my paypal account.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Tune to a strong station, and listen for bursts of static. You'll have a good one hour warning there's lightning approaching.
The latest Slashdot meme.