Hail Banger Inc

[Eric Friedebach]

There was an orchard near my home in Ohio that had some kind of hail cannon. A number of years ago I tried to find some info on the web demonstrating the effectiveness of these things, but came up empty handed.

 

[Dan Robinson]

From what I've read, these things are advocated with the fervor of a typical conspiracy theory. It doesn't matter how much science and fact is put forth, you won't change the mind of someone who believes they work.

 

[Brian Hurst]

Well I am from the "show-me state," it would be a good project for Mythbusters.I Think the odds of being hit by a Severe hail storm in some areas would be rare, I am sure 40,000 dollars would buy a lot of crop insurance or a lot of aunt bee's elixsor.

 

[Boris Konon]

What I always thought is that there is no way to really prove these
things work or not b/c you can't have a control in your experiment.
We obviously can't duplicate a hail producing tstm in a controlled
environment. The atmosphere is our laboratory, a giant one at that,
w/ an enormous amount of variation, both big and small.

To put it another way, how can you objectively tell they prevent
hail at a given location? It may be the storm weakened on it own
before moving in and ceased hail production. And then how to
do explain when they are used, and crops are ice flattened anyways.
Just too many variables!

 

[Warren Faidley]

I am surprised no one has questioned what the shock wave would do to aircraft?

Also, I could see Bevis and Butthead types aiming this thing at people or homes.

Warren

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I am surprised no one has questioned what the shock wave would do to aircraft?

Also, I could see Bevis and Butthead types aiming this thing at people or homes.

Warren

The Nazis Germans in WWII had a device that was much larger and used a great deal more fuel for the tuned wave front - in order to knock enemy bombers out of the sky.
It failed miserably.

I doubt very much that even the Nazi device would be able to change the course of a hail storm too.
Unless the farmers want to use a nuke to stop the threat - they aren't going to stop the course set in nature.

B & B would use the Hail Banger to knock over the girls shower room at the local high school - and then find out it wouldn't work for that either!

 

[Mike Krzywonski]

The July/August '08 issue of Weatherwise Magazine has a 5 pg. article entitled The Return of Anti-Hail Cannons.

 

[Bobby Prentice]

I was just watching the weather channel and they had a special on the Heil Banger.It is a cannon that fires a shockwave upward every 6 seconds before a storm and is suppose to break up the hail in the clouds.I am just wondering if anybody thinks this really works and prevents crops from being destroyed.I wonder how many chasers will have this for 50,000 dollar cannon mounted to the top on there car lol.

The history of meteorology is littered with charlatan's who claim to have the ability to modify the weather (e.g., rainmakers). These people feed off the fear and desperation of ignorant people. Hail suppression through the use of a "hail cannon" falls under that umbrella. To make a long story short, there are good practical reasons to doubt its effectiveness. The burden of proof is on the claimant.

Wikipedia - Hail Cannon

BTW...Don't get me started on cloud seeding. I'll let Chuck Doswell and Wikipedia cover that one at:

What About Weather Modification by Chuck Doswell

Wikipedia - Cloud Seeding#Controversy

 

[Greg Campbell]

Low flying Sopwith Camels might want to avoid these things - I could see some torn wing fabric, etc. A modern plane, flying at a hundred feet or so, should be absolutely fine.

Detonating a few ounces of fuel just isn't going to produce enough energy to have any effect on airplanes (or the weather.)

 

[Chris Vagasky]

THAT is supposed to prevent hail?

 

[Brian Hurst]

looks like some high tech moonshine still.