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.'"

Hmmmmm

[Sevn]

I've seen lighting reach out 75 miles to touch a C130.

Day late, dollar short.

[applemasker]

An excellent idea, but too late for these 30 kids [msn.com] 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.

Why not...

[Anonymous Coward]

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 [slashdot.org] yesterday and the electoral college [slashdot.org] on Monday, and now Lightning Detection today...

As a CSU alumnus...

[Chagatai]

I can say that this is actually quite a handy thing for the school to have deployed on campus, with all of the thunderstorms that pop up in the late summer and fall. I remember one day back in 1996 when I was walking near the library on a semi-cloudy day when a bolt of lightning hit something on campus out of the blue. It had such a loud thunderclap, too, that caused me to hit the ground. The reverberation was awesome, too, bouncing off of some of the foothills. There are still people today who remember this anomaly and where they were because it was so odd. One of these devices could have been handy in that situation.