Atlantic Beach implements new ‘Thor Guard' devices to predict, protect from lightning
With storms rolling through the Jacksonville area, Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue wants beach go'ers to take seriously the danger of lightning along the coastlines.
'On the beach, you're the tallest object typically so if lightning seeks out a tall object, a conductor, that could be you,' Capt. Rob Emahiser of Jax Beach Ocean Rescue highlighted on Sunday.
Now, the city of Atlantic Beach is looking to get ahead of the curve, adding its 'Thor Guard lightning prediction' system to the Ahern beach access point.
Read: Fort Caroline apartment complex set ablaze by lightning strike
The white 'Thor Guard' devices along Atlantic beach predict lightning strikes before they happen by analyzing the electrostatic energy in the atmosphere, providing warnings 8 to 20 minutes before a potential cloud-to-ground lightning strike. If risk of a lightning strike is predicted, the devices sound off with a loud 15 second horn blast sound.
'I think it's a great idea,' beach go'er Karen Brooks told Action News Jax at Atlantic Beach Sunday. 'It's about time I think that they have something like that here, because in Florida we take it very lightly cus we have thunderstorms happening all the time so we get kind of used to it.'
While the new 'Thor Guard' system will be keeping swimmers safe at Atlantic beach, it will also be keeping children safe at Jack Russell park – letting them know to get off the swings or baseball diamond before lightning and storms roll through.
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'The kids will be able to hear the sound and they'll realize 'hey this could be dangerous,' Atlantic Beach dad Ron Hoenstein told Action News Jax Sunday. 'Sometimes you run into situations where you're trying to tell them they need to go and they're like 'no, no we wanna keep playing,' but if they see that thing go off I think that's good and that they'll listen more for ya.'
The two new 'Thor Guard' systems will now be working with the existing ones at the sixth and 15th street beach access points to keep Atlantic beach residents and visitors safe in the water and on land.
Download the free Action News Jax First Alert Weather app for alerts when lightning hits your area.
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