Quebec apple grower using anti-hail cannon to protect crops from icy weather - Montreal | Globalnews.ca
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Anti-hail cannons aren't a new invention for farming, having originated in Europe but are now manufactured in various countries such as New Zealand and Germany.

NOTE: See the comment section for discussion on these devices. They might not actually do anything

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/69184297

A “anti-hail cannon” could be a Canadian first, as a Quebec apple orchard says the device could protect its crops from icy weather.

The cannon has been deployed at Verger des Bois-Francs southeast of Montreal by Maxime Brie. Hail has long been an agriculture producer nightmare as it can bring significant crop damage.

Anti-hail cannons aren’t a new invention for farming, having originated in Europe but are now manufactured in various countries such as New Zealand and Germany.

The Spanish-made one used by Brie is one that he claims has never been used in Canada before. The device cost them $160,000.

They work by causing controlled explosions near the base that then blast shockwaves into the air, which turn hail into harmless water.

By being connected to a weather station run by SPAG, with meteorologists monitoring conditions at all times from a facility in Brazil, it allows the device to better respond to storms.

  • Otter@lemmy.caOPEnglish
    9·
    2 hours ago

    Thanks, I didn’t know about them before today and this is probably why

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_cannon

    There is no evidence in favor of the effectiveness of these devices. A 2006 review by Jon Wieringa and Iwan Holleman in the journal Meteorologische Zeitschrift summarized a variety of negative and inconclusive scientific measurements, concluding “the use of cannons or explosive rockets is a waste of money and effort”.[7]

    There is also reason to doubt the efficacy of hail cannons from a theoretical perspective.[8] For example, thunder is a much more powerful sonic wave, and is usually found in the same storms that generate hail, yet it does not seem to disturb the growth of hailstones. Similarly, hail cannons are placed at ground level, while hail formation occurs at altitudes above 10,000 meters; a device with an effective range of 500 meters, above, would be unlikely to have an impact at an elevation 20 times higher.[9][10][11] Charles Knight, a cloud physicist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said in a July 10, 2008, newspaper article that “I don’t find anyone in the scientific community who would validate hail cannons, but there are believers in all sorts of things. It would be very hard to prove they don’t work, weather being as unpredictable as it is.”