MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WWSB) – In Manatee County, new systems to predict lightning are being installed at two beaches to warn the public when it’s time to get out of the water — and under shelter.
The system, by Thor Guard Lightning Prediction Systems, works by detecting static electricity in the atmosphere and in the ground.
“The Thorguard system has a system that will be mounted up on the roof. What that sensor does is it’s measuring the static charge in the atmosphere,” said Hunter Ross, the regional manager for Thorguard.
“Once that charge reaches a high-enough level, we know that there has to be some sort of dissipation of that energy — or a lightning strike.
The system then hunts for an opposite charge in the ground. Once that reaches a certain threshold, the two connect, causing a lightning strike.
“As the censor picks that up, horns sound for 15 seconds, and turn on a strobe light. That will happen approximately 15 to 20 minutes before lightning hits within two miles of any direction of the sensor,” Ross said.
Officials from the county are very excited for this new technology being installed at Coquina Beach and Manatee Public Beach.
Chet Brown, the division chief for Beach Patrol and Aquatic Safety, says, “This is a super-high-tech system. We’re super excited to have it to protect the citizens that comes to our beaches here in Manatee County and go to our pools and our splashpads,” Brown told ABC7.
Laurie Cumbie was at the beach on Thursday and said she thinks the detection system will save lives.
She ought to know. She said she had been hit by lightning.
“Years ago, I was talking on the phone,” she said. “It was a land line. Touched my sink, and lightning struck a tall pine tree, and it found ground, and it hit me. The phone blew out of my hand, and it jolted me.”
