Headline Roundup • October 11th, 2024
Fact Check: Claims That Hurricane Milton Was Geoengineered
Facts And Fact Checking,Misinformation,Severe Weather,Weather,Climate Change,Government,World,Environment
Summary from the AllSides News Team
There's no evidence that Hurricane Milton was the product of geoengineering, as some, including elected officials, have claimed.
What Proponents Say: Some cite circumstantial evidence, such as government documents about geoengineering, and focus on how the hurricanes primarily hit conservative states, suggesting the purported geoengineering targeted Republicans. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration article celebrating the “70th anniversary of the first hurricane seeding experiment” describes how some leading personnel believed modification of 1947’s Hurricane King caused the storm to make a “135-degree left turn” and strengthen before making landfall. A 1997 U.S. Air Force research paper titled “Owning the Weather in 2025” detailed “how weather-modification might become both technically feasible and socially desirable by 2025,” including “influencing clouds and precipitation, storm intensity, climate, space, or fog.”
What Deniers Say: Many denounced these as conspiracy theories, citing scientists who say no technology exists to influence hurricanes. Some pointed to climate change as a driver of the storms. The Federal Emergency Management Agency called the false claims “demoralizing” to aid workers.
How the Media Covered It: Media on the left tended to highlight scientists pushing back on geoengineering, and more often framed the storms as a result of climate change. Outlets on the right like Townhall (Right bias) were more likely to avoid these “far left ‘fact checks’ that cherry-pick sources of information to arrive at a predetermined outcome in advance.” The New York Times (Lean Left bias) highlighted so-called conspiracy theorists and climate change deniers who are joining with environmentalists and climate change activists in opposition to geoengineering.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Reuters/NOAA
False claims suggesting that Hurricane Milton was “engineered” and that the weather in Florida is being “manipulated” have been spreading on social media.
There is no technology that allows humans to create and control hurricanes.
But on platforms like X and TikTok, posts alleging - without evidence - that the US government is secretly controlling the weather have been viewed millions of times.
Leila Register / NBC News; Getty Images
Baseless conspiracy theories about weather modification and false claims about disaster relief efforts have continued to spread on X in recent days, with misinformation about Hurricane Milton adding to a mountain of false rumors about Hurricane Helene and its aftermath.
The spread has sparked a push from local and federal officials, along with some politicians, who have decried the spread of misinformation and outlandish claims about the origins of the storms.
As southern cities clean up the remnants of Hurricane Helene, several Republican lawmakers have also been tasked with cleaning up misinformation spread by some of their fellow GOP colleagues.
Shortly after Helene made landfall last month, inaccurate claims began to spread online about how the storm originated and whether it could target certain communities. Among those spreading the unsubstantiated claims was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who suggested the hurricane was targeting areas with predominantly Republican populations.
