Meteorologists tracking the progress of Hurricane Milton have become targets of a series of conspiracy theories, which claim they control the weather, and have been subjected to insults and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented increase in misinformation as the two major hurricanes bear down on the US.
A barrage of falsehoods and threats has been circulating for two weeks since Hurricane Helena tore through six states and caused hundreds of deaths, then Milton slammed into Florida on Wednesday.
The spread of misinformation, fueled by Donald Trump and his supporters, is so widespread that, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), it has made it impossible to provide assistance to communities affected by hurricanes.
Michigan meteorologist Kathy Nicolau said she and her colleagues have been on the receiving end of many of these conspiracies, receiving messages claiming that there are Category 6 hurricanes (which don't exist), that meteorologists or the government create and control hurricanes (which is not true). and even that the scientists should be killed and the radar equipment destroyed.
"I have never seen so much misinformation spread around a storm, we are constantly putting out fires of wrong information," Nikolau said.
"I've had a lot of people say that I created and directed the hurricane. People think we control the weather. I had to explain to them that a hurricane has the energy of 10.000 nuclear bombs and we just can't control it. But now everything has turned into a violent tone, especially with people saying that those who created Milton should be killed," she added.
One of the comments directed at Nikolao read: "Stop the breathing of those who made them and their associates." She replied, "Killing a weatherman won't stop hurricanes. I can't believe I had to write this."
"People call me various names, tell me to shut up and get out of the way, some think that the Doppler radar should be destroyed because they believe it controls the weather. All this takes up a lot of work and free time. It's very exhausting," Nikolau said.
A wide range of misinformation spread as Helena, and then Milton, strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico. Trump claimed that FEMA ran out of money to help hurricane victims because the money allegedly went to illegal immigrants. Threats of violence have also become more frequent, with posts on TikTok, Facebook and Xu (formerly Twitter) claiming that FEMA workers should be beaten or "arrested or shot on sight".
More bizarrely, several of Trump's closest allies have made baseless claims that the federal government somehow controls hurricanes. "Hurricane Helena was an attack caused by weather manipulation," claimed a video shared by Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser.
"Yes, they can control the weather," Marjorie Taylor Green, a far-right congresswoman, wrote on X last week. "It's pointless for someone to lie and say it can't be done," she added.
This surge in falsehoods prompted a sharp response from Joe Biden, who accused Trump of a "surge of lies" and told the former president to "get a life."
"This is absolutely ridiculous. It's so stupid. It has to stop," Biden said of the time control claims.
Although humans can make hurricanes worse by burning fossil fuels, which creates warmer oceans and an atmosphere that gives hurricanes more energy, they cannot create, control, or direct individual storms. Also, FEMA's fund to help communities affected by hurricanes is separate from funds spent on providing shelter to migrants.
For meteorologists, the experiences surrounding Helena and Milton are just an extreme continuation of a trend in which the public is increasingly getting its information from extremist figures on the Internet rather than from experts, says Chris Gloninger, a former TV meteorologist and climate scientist who has received threats for speaking out. about the climate crisis during the forecast.
"The modern day Republican Party has an army of people on social media with massive followings just spreading this misinformation. I'm watching my former colleagues receive threats, I'm getting messages that we're directing hurricanes at red states. It's unbelievable, I've never seen anything like this in any disaster Gloninger said.
He pointed out that meteorologists may soon reach the point of combustion.
"What other profession is targeted just because people are doing their jobs? All we're trying to do is protect lives and property during extreme weather events," he pointed out.
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