President Biden on Wednesday addressed what he called “stupid” claims that the federal government can control the weather, as the false claim was promoted by some politicians and high-profile figures.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather, we’re controlling the weather. It’s beyond ridiculous. It’s so stupid, it’s got to stop,” Mr. Biden said in his remarks from the White House. He also pledged federal support for hurricane recovery efforts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency created a new “Hurricane Rumor Response” page to combat misinformation. The White House launched an official Reddit account, with one of its posts focused on debunking hurricane misinformation. And many local officials have taken to social media to push back on harmful misinformation.
Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to his constituents in the wake of Hurricane Helene urging them to beware of “untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains.”
Claims that the government was controlling Hurricane Milton spread widely on social media platforms including X, TikTok and Facebook just days after similar false claims spread during Hurricane Helene. One post on X with more than 100,000 views claimed Hurricane Milton is a “modified and manipulated” storm being used as a “weapon.”
“Yes they can control the weather,” Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted to X on Oct. 3. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” Greene also shared a 2013 CBS News segment in which a physics professor discussed lab experiments investigating the potential use of lasers to affect the weather.
Several meteorology experts told CBS News it’s not possible to create or control hurricanes, with one expert calling the claim “utter nonsense.”
Some social media users also reference geoengineering, which NASA describes as proposed schemes “to reverse or limit climate change by intentional, large-scale manipulation of the Earth’s climate.” But “geoengineering could not create or control hurricanes,” said Joshua Horton, a senior program fellow studying solar geoengineering at Harvard University.
“It doesn’t currently exist, but if it did, geoengineering would be much too imprecise to control weather or weather events like hurricanes,” Horton said.
Some social media users have also pointed to cloud seeding as evidence that the government can control Hurricane Milton. Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that can improve a cloud’s ability to create rain or snow, according to the Nevada-based Desert Research Institute, which has its own cloud seeding program. Cloud seeding has existed since the 1940s, and dozens of countries have such programs.
Hurricane modification through cloud seeding was explored in the years between 1962 and 1983, but the project ended after seeding was found to be ineffective compared to the natural forces of the hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Charles Konrad, a professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Geography and Environment, said it’s important to acknowledge that hurricane modification was tested in the past but that it was ineffective.
“They tried to modify hurricanes and at the end of it, they realized that they couldn’t,” he said.
Konrad said hurricanes are “big atmospheric entities” that require an “incredible amount of energy” — more energy than humans could harness to weaken or direct the storm.
Hugh Willoughby, a research professor at Florida International University whose work focuses on hurricanes, said he’s not aware of any U.S. programs to revive the hurricane modification project. He said the idea that the government can control a hurricane is “utter nonsense.”
Konrad said the National Hurricane Center is a trusted source for anyone seeking verified information about hurricanes. “We have the best and the brightest, very specialized tropical meteorologists who have given their careers to understanding these things,” he said.
