Hurricane Milton: Debunking online conspiracy theories as the storm looms

Another powerful hurricane is barreling towards Florida directly on the heels of the devastation wrought across multiple states by Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Milton has strengthened into a Category 5 storm that is all but certain to make landfall in Florida as soon as Wednesday.

Mashable has the info on the latest projections for where and when the storm might hit via forecasting spaghetti models. But the long and short of it is that a major hurricane is once again heading for the state.

"Milton can bring a variety of life-threatening dangers, including an extreme storm surge of 10-15 feet along and near the coast, including in the Tampa Bay area, destructive winds and major flooding to one of the most densely populated parts of Florida, the I-4 corridor, especially from Tampa toward Orlando," said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. 

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But, because the internet is the internet, there has been loads of fake information circulating about the dangerous storm. While Floridians should expect another damaging hurricane, they can also expect to see more misinformation about Milton.

Milton is not a HAARP 'weather weapon' that 'they' can control

This shouldn't be something that we need to explain but, no, neither the government nor some nefarious "they" are able to generate a storm to unleash on its own citizens. But that is something that's circulating online ahead of Milton's landfall. Typically speaking, these sorts of conspiracy theories are coming from rightwing accounts that specialize in trafficking that kind of misinformation. Here are a couple of examples of the whole weather weapon thing, which, to X's credit, have inspired lengthy Community Notes fact-checks.

The conspiracy theorists have latched onto the "High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP") as a buzz-phrase to explain how Democrats or some other "they" created Helene, Milton, or other storms. The HAARP program cannot control the weather, as the AFP news service broke down in detail.

"HAARP had absolutely no connection to the formation of Hurricane Helene, the formation of any other hurricane, or the genesis of any other natural weather event for that matter," Howard Diamond, director of the Atmospheric Sciences and Modeling Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Air Resources Laboratory, told AFP.

HAARP has even feIt the need to address the idea of weather manipulation on its site. It wrote on its FAQ page: "The HAARP system is basically a large radio transmitter. Radio waves interact with electrical charges and currents, and do not significantly interact with the troposphere." That's the lower atmosphere where weather exists.

HAARP added: "Radio waves in 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. Since there is no interaction, there is no way to control the weather."

The false idea that the government, or some other shadowy force, is somehow manipulating the weather has been pushed by some folks in positions of prominence in Republican politics. Folks like Alex Jones have been pushing it for years and now Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — the rightwing congresswoman from Georgia — openly spread the conspiracy theory. She even used the ominous phrasing of "they," which is commonly understood to be anti-Semitic.

"Yes they can control the weather," Greene wrote on X during Hurricane Helene. "It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done."

So it's no surprise the conspiracy theories continue apace as Milton nears landfall. Just know they are baseless.

What's going on with FEMA?

There have also been lots of rumors and headlines regarding FEMA in the wake of Helene and before Milton.

"We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week. "FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season."

This quote, in part, helped feed into the idea that the government wouldn't be able to help folks recover from Helene or Milton. But, in truth, it just means FEMA might have to spend against the president's budget in response to natural disasters.

Sparked by baseless claims from former President Donald Trump, the idea began to circulate that President Joe Biden's administration had spent disaster relief funds on migrants. The Washington Post published a piece noting that Biden had not redirected disaster money to migrant programs, but Trump's administration had.

FEMA even has a page devoted to debunking the false rumors going around. It reads, in part.

"The funding for communities to support migrants is appropriated by Congress to Customs and Border Patrol – it has nothing to do with FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has enough funding to support Hurricane Helene efforts and FEMA has what it needs for immediate response and recovery efforts. As FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has said, she has the full authority to spend against the President’s budget, but we’re not out of hurricane season yet so we need to keep a close eye on it."

So, no, money that might be needed to help folks recover from Milton has not been redirected.

What to expect with Hurricane Milton?

Unfortunately, it seems that Milton is yet another disaster. NASA has noted that worse hurricanes could be a product of climate change.

The agency wrote in 2022:

"Due to global warming, global climate models predict hurricanes will likely cause more intense rainfall and have an increased coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas. Additionally, the global frequency of storms may decrease or remain unchanged, but hurricanes that form are more likely to become intense."

After rapidly intensifying, Milton is expected to hit Florida on Wednesday as a powerful hurricane.