Government Making Hurricanes Conspiracy Theory
- by knowyourmeme
- Oct 09, 2024
- 0 Comments
- 0 Likes Flag 0 Of 5
Other weather modification conspiracy theories predate theories specifically about hurricane creation, including Chemtrail Conspiracy Theories and the Jewish Space Lasers Theory.
HAARP
Conspiracy theories about the government making hurricanes and dangerous weather phenomena originally centered on speculation about Alaska's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) which measures ion frequencies in the earth's thermosphere and ionosphere. HAARP uses radio waves to heat the electrons in the ionosphere to create small perturbations that form aurora borealis in order to control the study of them unreliant on natural occurrence. The U.S. Air Force funded HAARP until 2015. Then, the University of Fairbanks Alaska took over the funding. HAARP has denied and debunked the claims that its radio waves affect weather, saying, "the frequency ranges that HAARP transmits are not absorbed in either the troposphere or the stratosphere—the two levels of the atmosphere that produce Earth’s weather."[1]
HAARP conspiracy theories have surfaced on Reddit's /r/conspiracy[2][3][4] since at least 2010. The program has been linked in these posts to multiple types of natural disasters including the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, 2012 Joplin Tornado and 2012 Hurricane Sandy.
Videos about HAARP conspiracy theories were shared on YouTube during the same timeframe, like a video posted by YouTuber[5] StarTalk on September 13th, 2013, that was a discussion with Neil deGrasse Tyson about HAARP, gaining over 448,800 views in 11 years (shown below).
Project Cirrus
Project Cirrus was a cloud-seeding experiment operated in October 1947 when U.S. Air Force jets dropped several pounds of crushed dry ice into a hurricane nicknamed "King" off the coast of Jacksonville, FL. General Electric (GE) Laboratories discovered that dry ice could alter clouds and precipitation by turning the supercooled water in the clouds into ice. The path of the hurricane changed after the dry ice was dumped, swerving to hit landfall again over Georgia, causing devastation. Dr. Irving Langmuir, GE’s head of its Laboratories, said he was "99% sure" that the hurricane changed course due to the seeding. Alternatively, the Chief of the Weather Bureau, Dr. Francis Reichelderfer, debunked the claim by providing evidence of three other hurricanes that had an almost identical course change naturally, saying that it was a coincidence that King also did.[6]
Online speculation about Project Cirrus surfaced en masse in 2017, following that year's Atlantic hurricane season that included Irma, Maria and Harvey which occurred in rapid succession of each other. Posts on /r/conspiracy[7][8] reference Project Cirrus.
Project Stormfury
Project Stormfury was an experimental research program conducted between 1962 and 1983. It involved research on manipulating hurricanes by "artificial stimulation of convection outside the eyewall through seeding with silver iodide." By the 1980s, the effects of silver iodide seeding were questioned by experts who found that "hurricanes contained too much natural ice and too little supercooled water," resulting in non-effective results.[9]
Like Project Cirrus, Project Stormfury speculation surfaced en masse in 2017, coinciding with the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. Posts on /r/conspiracy[7] mirror this interest.
Operation Popeye
Operation Popeye was a 1966 U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War in which the U.S. Air Force cloud-seeded to prolong the monsoon season over the country. Debunkers have stated that the cloud-seeding used in Operation Popeye could not make hurricanes because hurricane systems are too powerful.[10]
Spread
As stated, hurricane conspiracy theories originally surfaced as early as 2012 but gained more traction in 2017. However, in the late 2010s, hurricane conspiracy theories didn't amass largely viral posts on Twitter / X or elsewhere. However, satirical posts, although non-viral, did surface on X[11] in 2019 (earliest known example shown below).
In the 2020s, hurricane conspiracy theories amassed viral and notable posts. For instance, a 2021 article by The Observers[13] referenced conspiratorial posts on Instagram about the government creating hurricanes.
On October 27th, 2023, X[12] user @Vision4theBlind posted a video of Hurricane Otis' damage in Acapulco, Mexico, suggesting, "Sounds like HAARP was involved." The tweet amassed over 255,700 views and 3,300 likes in a year (shown below).
2024 Hurricane Helene
During the 2024 hurricane season, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton occurred within two weeks of each other, devasting North Carolina and Florida communities.
Conspiratorial posts about the hurricanes surfaced en masse in late September 2024, evident in a post shared by X[14] user and conservative pundit @MattWallace888 on September 28th, who shared a video of Helene's damage in NC, writing, "Don’t worry guys, weather modification isn’t real! It’s just a coincidence that Hurricane Helene is one of the most devastating 'inland damage storms' in history and that hundreds of pro-Trump counties are being massively impacted during the most important election of our lifetimes." The post received over 11.9 million views and 30,000 likes in 11 days (shown below).
The abovementioned post also received a community note [15] that debunked Wallace's claim.
Wallace's tweet was quoted by many on the app who criticized him or mocked him. For instance, on September 29th, X[16] user @wobblymami quoted the post, writing, "Are people really this stupid that they think hurricanes are formed as a political tactic," gaining over 130,000 likes in 10 days (shown below).
Marjorie Taylor Greene's Posts
On October 3rd, 2024, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a tweet[17] that read, "Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done." Greene's tweet came after Hurricane Helene and amid the rapid intensification of Hurricane Milton. The tweet received over 43.1 million views and 41,000 likes in six days (shown below).
Greene posted more tweets[18][19] in the following days that reiterated her claim, additionally namedropping her belief that
"space lasers" can control the weather.
Greene's posts were criticized by major news outlets like WIRED[20] and The Guardian.[21]
Greene's posts were also criticized and mocked by users on X, like X[22] user @rwxoxo on October 4th, who quoted Greene with a video of a DJ, captioned, "me at the jew meeting going dummy on the weather machine," amassing over 153,000 likes in five days (shown below).
me at the jew meeting going dummy on the weather machine https://t.co/KFsepzOHzi pic.twitter.com/coIYM21rxv
Please first to comment
Related Post
Stay Connected
Tweets by elonmuskTo get the latest tweets please make sure you are logged in on X on this browser.
Sponsored
Popular Post
Tesla: Buy This Dip, Energy Growth And Margin Recovery Are Vastly Underappreciated
28 ViewsJul 29 ,2024