US

Can a ‘Hail Cannon’ Control the Weather?

Can a Hail Cannon Control the Weather?“It sounds like artillery fire.”

That’s how the neighbor of a farmer in Vermont once described a “hail cannon.” The curious looking rocket-like cylinder is a “gun,” pointed straight up in the air, that fires 200 mph shockwaves. It’s used by farmers to protect crops from hail. But while some farmers swear by them (they say the cannons break up the hail before it hits the ground), there are scientists who say there is no proof they work:

The debate over the device’s effectiveness has been raging for years. Foxnews.com explains:

Meteorologist Steve Johnson has been studying hailstorms for more than forty years and he thinks the cannons are all sound, no fury.

“As a scientist, and as far as science is concerned, they do not work,” Johnson told FoxNews.com. Farmers in the Valley beg to differ, saying the devices have helped save their crops.

“I’ve seen them work,” Mike Thurlow, a farmer in Reedley, Calif., told FoxNews.com. “I’ve been in the middle of hailstorms next to them, and you get about a couple hundred acres of protection from a single hail cannon.”

“They work,” Thurlow insisted.

Meteorologists and weather control experts argue that the only way to prevent hailstones from falling is to focus on the beginning stages of hail formation by seeding the cloud.

Comments (74)

1 2
  • panz
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 7:15pm

    can I buy one at Northern Tools?

    Report Post » panz  
    • sWampy
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 7:35pm

      Car plants swear by them, I wouldn‘t think they would put these in if they didn’t work.

      Report Post »  
  • saneasylum
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 4:15pm

    The Japanese seem to think these cannons work, they have them on the roof of their Nissan plant in Mississippi to help protect their inventory of newly produced vehicles in the lots around the plant.

    Report Post » saneasylum  
  • MONEY_FOR_NOTHING
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 3:51pm

    Note to meteorologist:
    1) A 60 year-old man looks ridiculous sporting a faux hawk.
    2) Adjust flame.

    Report Post »  
  • Rickfromillinois
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 2:56pm

    Who cares if it works or not, it’s a cannon! How cool is that to have one of those babies in your back yard. Change the angle a bit and stick a few potatoes in it and then you’re ready for some real fun!

    Report Post » Rickfromillinois  
  • Lucky Strikes
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 2:44pm

    If you build it they will come…

    Report Post »  
  • MeteoricLimbo
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:48pm

    Hails bells

    Report Post » MeteoricLimbo  
  • roxee
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:11pm

    http://www.silenceopensdoors.com/tag/oliver-m-lowery/ This what they will use on the crowds when we protest ,or ,riot in mass. Weather and crowd control.. check out this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmuyLIrSjxI&feature=related Crazy!

    Report Post »  
  • Fruitgrower101
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:06pm

    The speed is actually whatever the speed of sound is at the locations, altitude, temp, humidity all have to factored in.

    Report Post »  
  • tinlizy
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:00pm

    playing with mother nature. not good.

    Report Post » tinlizy  
  • Acts_19
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:43pm

    For your consideration
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrgTtZXuj4w

    Report Post »  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:27pm

    I really doubt this works… it’s just a small shock wave that will dissipate within a few feet. Especially at only 200 MPH.

    Wishful thinking if you ask me.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
  • sgallion1
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:02pm

    Let’s see……the scientist who predicts weather (some of the highest paid scientists with some of the highest error rates) say that the canons don’t work. But…..farmers who use them and have proven they work, say they do work. Hmmmmmm……..who to believe.

    Report Post »  
  • Beyondculturewars
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:45am

    Since several farms around our town implemented hail canons 1) our town has not had damaging hail, 2) the hail storms have moved beyond town, toward the east.

    We used to be a tornando alley, for all storms beginning in spring. I can’t help but notice that the beginning of all tornado storms has moved, again, past us, toward the east, increasing the severity of tornados in other areas of the state and country.

    Our rain has also moved around us, but that is probably due more toward the ‘city effect’ with all our fast building.

    Report Post »  
  • 5061304072
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:39am

    It’s against the law to attempt to change the weather in Colorado.

    Does that mean that those driving a Prius should be arrested?

    Report Post » 5061304072  
  • ctate970
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:06am

    If this guy can sell these things for 50k each then good for him.

    Report Post »  
  • katbrat
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:04am

    Don’t know about these things but I know that HAARP is definately a Weather Manipulator used for Weather Warfare! Also the Large Holdron Collider! Chemical Spraying/Aerosol Spraying as well!

    Report Post »  
    • N37BU6
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:15am

      I’d be much more worried about HAARP just due to the fact that it screws with the magnetosphere. No need to even go the conspiracy route. Some of the genuine experiments they do are enough to make me wary.

      We‘re messing with things they don’t fully understand… things that stop us all from dying from the sun’s radiation. Kind of worrisome, especially when you look at how many times science has advanced due solely to learning from mistakes.

      Report Post » N37BU6  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:01am

    Breaking up hail before it hits the ground isn’t weather modification… it’s no different than using an umbrella.

    If it even works.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
  • TMan2020
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:55am

    This whole story is funny. From the gay guy to selling them to India. HAHAHA

    Report Post »  
  • etetetet
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:44am

    Thank God the 2nd Amendment allows this farmer to be armed with this gun. Hey, what would happen if he points it at Washington D.C.?

    Report Post »  
  • TSUNAMI-22
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:41am

    I’m a pilot. I’ve been through weather education. This is BS on the most basic level. This contraption might have the same effectiveness as a fart in a windstorm.

    Report Post »  
    • TSUNAMI-22
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:58am

      I was just thinkin…..if we sat Al Gore on top of one of these things, maybe it would stop global warming in one fell swoop.

      Report Post »  
  • StuntDrivin4U
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:38am

    I may either be completely naive or smarter than the average bear because in no way shape or for do I think expelled acetylene rids you of hail storms.

    Report Post » StuntDrivin4U  
  • greggor
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:37am

    I’m not so sure about it controlling the weather.. but I bet, if properly aimed, it could control unruly crowds!

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:30am

    Interesting machinery, yet there have been reports of similar machines used over the Saudi Arabia areas to bring rain, to control storms, and such about the world; some seen on discovery channel for the usage of ‘climate control’ of the global warming garbage.

    Good idea, yet I will need more proof of its effectiveness.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • roxee
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:53am

      Back in 2007 there were a couple of Bills for the House/Senate…Bill 1807 & 3445 they did not make it. Patent 5,003′186 for Hughes Aircraft …

      Report Post »  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:56am

      Thanks ROXEE, will check more into those references.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:59am

      @Roxee

      Just checked it out, and interesting indeed, I remember something else of a plan involving contingent usage of ‘weather warfare’ to descimate entire regions of Americas enemies in the event action has to be used against them, just before the US troops would smash home in maximum force.

      Again thanks.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • roxee
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:34am

      @ Snow

      http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/china-leads-wea/ It’s been around for sometime.I believe all countries have and just don’t want to mention it, a bit frightening.

      Report Post »  
  • grandmaof5
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:30am

    Why not, people believed Al Gore with faulty documentation. If the farmers think it works and it doesn’t cost the taxpayers money, have at it. I hope it is a cheap way to save their crops, thus lowering our cost.

    Report Post »  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:45am

      Morning Grandmaof5, it would be nice if such things could work, yet it seems like everyone has heard of or actually thought of creating such devices; one neighbour of my grandfathers built such a device based on a ‘solar collective enhancement device for weather and moisture collective’ that we used to cook hotdogs and such in a solar oven after he decided it would not work.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • cnsrvtvj
    Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:27am

    It’s not nice to fool with Mother nature. This is an interesting device though. I still believe that we shouldn’t be messing around with the natural order of things.

    http://www.donsmithshow.com – conservative news and ploitical humor

    Report Post » cnsrvtvj  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:39am

      Can it control the weather? Hail if I know.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:43am

      Agree with you on the usage of machinery to toy around with mother nature; imagine if someone used the device to turn away a small storm, and another part of the world suffers a hurricane due to the storm being diverted.

      By the way, on the muslim brotherhood spiritual leader speaking today in Cairo, the one link I have found on Al Jazeera English has been taken down when I went to confirm its link. There will most likely be a white washed version of the service for non-believers soon after he finishes.

      Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • tower7femacamp
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:46am

      No but HAARP might
      and Tesla may have done it.

      Report Post » tower7femacamp  
    • tower7femacamp
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:47am

      probably kills flocks of birds

      Report Post » tower7femacamp  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 10:55am

      @GhostofJefferson

      Hail to the chief?

      @Tower7

      Tesla is believed to have made the initial breakthroughs in weather type manipulations, yet not much has ever been mentioned upon it other than as ‘myths’ that hold some scary real probabilities within the fields he studied. One story I have found a long while back mentioned of one experiment of his having ‘opened the door’ and something came through, before pulling the structure where the experiment was carried out in, back through.

      Again, what is real and myth are often intertwined one with the other; so I can do nothing more than offer speculation at this time.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • ishka4me
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:03am

      if the inventor is relying on coincidence and not science , it is more similar to 19th century quack inventions to cure illness and disease. I have seen it pour hard raining on one side of my yard and sunny on otherside with no cannon.my advice is to build more golf courses because my father swears that it never rains on the golf course.

      Report Post »  
    • DashRipRock
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:04am

      I cant even begin to imagine

      the vast number of conspiracies

      running thru TOWERSEVENS head right now

      Report Post »  
    • randy
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:07am

      About the only thing I see the hail canon is good for:
      Hail canon launches Obama ball
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr39f5t_Mdc

      Report Post » randy  
    • tower7femacamp
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:21am

      SNOW maybe like the Hadron Collider ?
      http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627175348.htm
      there is also some interesting stuff about kabbalistic magic and symbols
      http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2008/06jun/RICR-080608.php

      Report Post » tower7femacamp  
    • planetalk
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:27am

      There is a lot of history on this. Aristotle first noted that thunderstorms with lots of thunder have no hail, but storms without thunder have hail. I am a meteorologist and worked in weather modification in the 1970′s. My first job was in Asti province of northern Italy to prevent hail. The local farmers had always used gunpowder cannon to ‘break up’ hail, and when I was there, launched rockets with 1/2 stick dynamite warheads to do the same job. This was very important to them as this is a ‘hail capitol’. The grape farmers expected to lose one crop out of three to hail. My group came in to do modern cloud seeding with silver iodide dispensed from aircraft and were used for two years in 1972 and 1973. Our program was evaluated to cause a 45% reduction in hail damage.

      Report Post »  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:27am

      @tower7femacamp

      “probably kills flocks of birds”

      Well frankly, those flocking birds can go to hail.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
    • Showtime
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 11:42am

      The Progressives are not content to control people’s lives. Now they’re working on controlling weather?!

      I wish they would set out on a mission to control the sun. Maybe get close enough to lasso it?

      Report Post » Showtime  
    • booger71
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:10pm

      Sounds like the “tornado rods” scam artists used to sell in the 20‘s and 30’s

      Report Post » booger71  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:12pm

      @Tower7

      I have heard of the supercollider may be able to produce a micro black hole for a intensly brief time period. It is always facinating to hear of such probabilities in science, where they find something new or expected and new at the same time. Yet there have been cases of ‘myth’ building up about the supercollider/black hole probability that wound up with many americans suing in court to get the government to stop the collider (even though we could not stop it anyhow if I remember correctly) due to the ‘doom of the world by a massive blackhole being created.’

      This is what I meant by fact and myth being interwoven and having difficulty over time to figure out which is which.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • tower7femacamp
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:46pm

      @GhostOfJefferson that was funny and witty
      keep them coming

      Report Post » tower7femacamp  
    • tower7femacamp
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:49pm

      @SNOW I hope the CERN Hadron collider isn’t an attempt to open the door again

      ‘opened the door’ and something came through, before pulling the structure where the experiment was carried out in, back through.

      Report Post » tower7femacamp  
    • Fruitgrower101
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 12:57pm

      These work very well, We own a few of them.
      It does not control the weather or have any effect on the storm.
      What it does is disrupt the formation of the ice crystals floating around up in the clouds so when the Hail / rain falls to the earth it comes down more like a soft slush rather than ice.
      That way it does not strip the blossoms, leaves, and scar the fruit.
      They work I get to see it work every year.

      Report Post »  
    • jzs
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:15pm

      Spewing millions of tons of toxins into the air doesn’t strike anyone as “messing with Mother Nature” but everyone is concerned that this this crackpot idea just might be. There seems to be a lack of perspective here.

      Report Post » jzs  
    • NeoFan
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:54pm

      I use my flashlight to make the moon brighter at night. I hope it doesnt change the weather too much.

      Report Post »  
    • Sinista Mace
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 3:28pm

      The scientists are wrong.

      The hail cannon works. It would work better if it was shaped like a star (pentagram).

      You can also use a pentagonal structured electromagnetic field to reduce the crystal lattice stability, creating a situation where ice crystals cannot form, allowing supercooling of water below the freezing point.

      Of course, supercooled water could be as damaging to crops as hail, but the physical damage from hasilstone impact would be reduced. The supercooled water can also be negated by directing the pentagonal structured electromagnetic field towards the crops, reducing crystal lattice stability in ice formation inside plant cells, effectively giving them electromagnetic antifreeze.

      Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
    • Xcori8r
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 7:47pm

      Whoa. I gotta get me one of these.

      Keep the hail off the lawn and I don’t much like the nieghbors here in the city.

      Report Post » Xcori8r  
    • jzs
      Posted on February 18, 2011 at 9:35pm

      SINISTA, noteworthy post and timely. At this moment my research organization is working on the effect of octagonal quantum fields on the formation of dihydrogen oxide molecular lattices. Research is ongoing but it appears that the increased concentrations of the molecule and changing global thermodynamic equilibria play a part in the observed increase in lattice formation over certain parts of the continental United States, as well as the reduced albedo of the polar regions.

      Report Post » jzs  
    • Chet Hempstead
      Posted on February 19, 2011 at 1:26am

      Humans have been changing the weather ever since we learned to control fire. The only question is whether doing it on purpose can really be any worse than doing it by accident.

      Report Post »  
    • ozz
      Posted on February 19, 2011 at 4:32am

      You are not a farmer who’s livelyhood depends on the weather. In short you have no horse in this race.
      weather science has proven a fact has no bearing on it’s existence, only on our understanding of it.
      Example = the earth was always a globe.

      Report Post » ozz  
    • ForeignWatcher
      Posted on February 19, 2011 at 6:06am

      So, CNSRVTVJ, no medicine, no transportation, hell, no cooking? No growing anything, an especially nothing we grow today, since *everything* we grow is geneticaly “enhanced”…
      I dont want to live in your world.

      Report Post »  
    • Sinista Mace
      Posted on February 19, 2011 at 9:45am

      JZS,

      LMAO @ Dihydrogen oxide.

      I hope you don‘t think I’m stupid or a noob. Dihydrogen Monoxide is H2o (water).

      Octagonal fields won’t really have any effect on water, because the smallest geometrical shapes the lattice can form and still tile the plane evenly is a pentagram and a hexagram.

      You cannot tile a plane with only pentagrams, because the five sided structure is unstable. you have to use a combination of pentagrams and hexagrams for stability.

      This is illustrative in the formula :

      6/5 * Phi^2 = 3.1416, which approximates pi.

      You said “Research is ongoing but it appears that the increased concentrations of the molecule and changing global thermodynamic equilibria play a part in the observed increase in lattice formation over certain parts of the continental United States, as well as the reduced albedo of the polar regions.”

      All you just said is that as the ice caps melt, the increased amount of water vapor in concentration in the atmosphere is causing the increased lattice formation (polar ice sheet expansion) and reduced albedo of the poles, said albedo reduced due to the increased concentration of water vapor, which absorbs and holds the heat of the radiation instead of reflecting it back into space like ice.

      This is an intermediate step in the global warming theory, where there would be a period of cooling (mini ice age) after which the earth’s temperature would increase dramatically.

      Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
    • jzs
      Posted on February 19, 2011 at 12:01pm

      SINASTA, it was a joke.

      Report Post » jzs  
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