TornadoAlert?

Matt Tottle

Matt Tottle

EF4
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
421
Location
Russell, KS
Ok WTF is this thing? I saw it a couple weeks ago at Home Depot, and I have not been able to find anything about it other than stuff that looks like it was written by them. There's nothing on the box or in the manual that gives any indication about how it works, it just says that it 'detects tornadoes' with "NASA proven methodology".. It looks like snake oil along the lines of magnetic balance bracelets and magic fuel savers to me.. Anyone else seen it?

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"The energy produced by severe weather can be detected and analyzed by monitoring radio frequency transmissions from the storm itself."

As you well may know, lightning is easily detected by AM radio. What you may not know...is that tornadoes are also detectable by a low hum on the very lowest AM frequencies. I remember hearing a presentation from a storm spotter in IA who used to spot during the 50's and 60's, often at night. He was totally unable to see the tornadoes due to being after dark, however if he turned his AM radio down very low, he would pick up a distinct hum if there was a tornado, which is how he would call in warnings. The method was found to be surprisingly accurate.

I'm guessing they just put a frequency sensor on a box and it goes off if its within range. It's just an AM receiver...for tornadoes....
 
Royce Sheibal said:
"The energy produced by severe weather can be detected and analyzed by monitoring radio frequency transmissions from the storm itself."

As you well may know, lightning is easily detected by AM radio. What you may not know...is that tornadoes are also detectable by a low hum on the very lowest AM frequencies. I remember hearing a presentation from a storm spotter in IA who used to spot during the 50's and 60's, often at night. He was totally unable to see the tornadoes due to being after dark, however if he turned his AM radio down very low, he would pick up a distinct hum if there was a tornado, which is how he would call in warnings. The method was found to be surprisingly accurate.

I'm guessing they just put a frequency sensor on a box and it goes off if its within range. It's just an AM receiver...for tornadoes....
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I'd be willing to bet dollars that only works when you're really close to a tornado, say, within 5-10 miles, maybe less, and that's only if there isn't some other entity producing a similar signal to mask the tornado.
 
Now at The Home Depot, and for only $40 more than a a good Midland NOAA Weather Radio that does the same thing, we offer you this best seller...
 
You should read the small print on the outside of the box.

1: Go outside and place the device in your palm.

2: Tilt your palm and let the device fall to toward the ground.

3: Hits the ground = no tornado. Is moved slightly to the right or left before hitting the ground = severe storm. Violently leaves your hand and becomes airborne = tornado!
 
I did a quick patent search to try to see if there are any clues as to how this device "worked". I didn't find any assigned to that company, but I did find some interesting patents in this area:

https://www.google.com/patents/US3810137
http://www.google.com/patents/US4812825

There are more - just look at the bottom of these patents for other patents that cite these. I'm still a skeptic, but it made for interesting reading.
 
Warren Faidley said:
You should read the small print on the outside of the box.

1: Go outside and place the device in your palm.

2: Tilt your palm and let the device fall to toward the ground.

3: Hits the ground = no tornado. Is moved slightly to the right or left before hitting the ground = severe storm. Violently leaves your hand and becomes airborne = tornado!
Click to expand...

My Weather Rock has similar instructions.. Except that also tells me when it's raining, snowy, foggy, and sunny! :D
 
It's hard to argue with a product that uses a "NASA-proven methodology" :)
I would be fun to crack the cover on one of these and take a look inside. My personal bet is that it scans the usual NOAA Weather Radio channels and triggers an alert based on that, without playing the voice data.
 
I found this. It's dated but someone might be trying to rehash old idea. Can you imagine the salesman that was required to get Home Depot to buy 50,000 units or whatever?
A radio receiver system for warning of an approaching tornado. The device is a regenerative detector tunable over the broad range of 25 to 60 MHz but normally tuned to the 53.25 MHz frequency. The system is capable of extracting from a carrier a tornado audio frequency signal as small as 0.5 microvolts. The tornado signal in the audio frequency range is extracted from the carrier frequency and is amplified by a general purpose amplifier. It is fed to trigger circuit for switching on an audio oscillator and a warning light. These warning devices stay on until they are manually switched off.
Click to expand...
http://www.google.com/patents/US3810137
 
This isn't some mythical or snake oil product. Lightning sensors are common in general aviation and are used to detect and analyze storms, they are called 'stormscopes' and have been around for a while. The tornado version isn't much different. Although the physics is still pretty crazy, it seems that tornadoes give off a detectable signal due to static discharge from the tornado acting as a ground when it touches the earth. The storm continually builds and discharges potential energy until the tornado has lifted. That's what I heard from some radio geeks, so take it for what it's worth. Radios pick up the signal at 550khz and old VHF TV's picked it up at 55Mhz.
 
Matt Tottle said:
Ok WTF is this thing? I saw it a couple weeks ago at Home Depot, and I have not been able to find anything about it other than stuff that looks like it was written by them. There's nothing on the box or in the manual that gives any indication about how it works, it just says that it 'detects tornadoes' with "NASA proven methodology".. It looks like snake oil along the lines of magnetic balance bracelets and magic fuel savers to me.. Anyone else seen it?

[Broken External Image]:http://i.imgur.com/D2vu0vJ.jpg?2
TpH9CFo.jpg

7d2kYnF.jpg
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Incredible. Hands down the most ridiculous product the world has ever seen.
 
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