Lightning Strike Detector

[mike]

I ordered one of these from Overton's a week or so ago for about $50, and have had it for a few days now. It looks exactly like the pocket pagers everyone used to carry, before the cell phone explosion.

I haven't had a chance to really test it thoroughly, but here are my observations so far. Generally speaking, it does seem to indicate the presence of lightning at distances that are consistent with thunderstorms I'm seeing on radar. These past several days, I've had storms around my area, but none within "thunder hearing" distance to actually see the device light up when I know a strike has occurred nearby. Regardless, the usefulness of this device is the ability to know a lightning-producing thunderstorm is in the area.

Because it reports the distance of each strike by way of 4 lights (24-40, 12-24, 6-12, and 0-6 miles) and beeps (if desired), it could possibly be helpful in determining whether a storm is approaching or moving away (and has a feature that indicates its best guess at this). But because it has no way of knowing the bearing to any given strike, this is probably unreliable in some cases, as it might be thrown off by one strike 12 miles to the east, then another 30 miles to the west (all it knows is that one strike was 12 miles away, the other was 30).

It is apparently somewhat sensitive to interference, though it does seem to "know" when it's being interfered with, and blinks the power light to alert you to this. I noticed that it does not work at all in the car with the motor running. I was concerned that our boat's Honda 50 might cause problems too, but this didn't happen... with the boat's motor running, and various electronics on, the detector didn't seem to complain.

In short, this little box looks like it will be helpful (to a limited degree) in avoiding getting caught out in bad weather. Because it doesn't detect bearing to the strike, it won't tell you from what direction the storm is coming. But at least it serves to alert you of bad weather in your general area, and if it does seem to indicate a series of strikes that are getting closer to your position, you can be prepared to flee if needed, in advance of actually hearing thunder or seeing the storm.

--Mike

[Mark Prouty]

That brings up a question I'm curious about. What is the farthest distance a thunderstorm can be seen from? Seems to me its about 20 miles.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

That depends on the visibility, the height, and the density of storms. Some days, CB's are embedded or can only be seen less than a couple miles away, but other days, if the visibility is just right and, you might be able to see one 100 miles away on the horizon.

That strike finder sounds interesting. AM radios pickup strikes and if I remember correctly, the ADF in an airplane can even point to a strike if it is set to right frequency (low AM band I think). I've heard of pilots who use this to avoid storms.

[Jack O'Brien]

Until about 8 years ago I subscribed to FLYING magazine. So probably about 1990 or so some guy invented a Lightning detection radio device that not only showed the distance but also the direction of lightning strikes on a display similar to radar. I can't remember the name, something like The Ryan Stormscope maybe, and it was succesful enough that the company was bought by one of the big boys. Probably any search of aviation equipment would turn it up.

[Jack O'Brien]

The STRIKE ALERT PERSONAL LIGHTNING DETECTOR is on sale at Overton's for $50 versus regular price of $70.

The same thing is on ebay, MSRP $80, "Buy It Now" for $60.

Item #5700512016

[mike]

Until about 8 years ago I subscribed to FLYING magazine. So probably about 1990 or so some guy invented a Lightning detection radio device that not only showed the distance but also the direction of lightning strikes on a display similar to radar. I can't remember the name, something like The Ryan Stormscope maybe, and it was succesful enough that the company was bought by one of the big boys. Probably any search of aviation equipment would turn it up.

Yes, Stormscope... I flew in a Piper Saratoga once that was equipped with this little gadget (I seem to recall it was pretty small... fit in a normal instrument space). I think it showed little plus signs representing lightning strikes.

That would be a neat thing to have on a boat, if it were affordable (I'm sure the Price Multiplication Factor is much higher for aviation stuff compared to boat stuff).

--Mike