TV meteorologists say they have become hate figures for conspiracy theorists who have responded to their life-saving advice with death threats.
And the combination of two vicious hurricanes and an overheated election race has created a perfect storm of abuse from people who believe the damage was deliberately caused.
Some claim the anger has been stoked by prominent figures online, including far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who insisted they can “control the weather” as Hurricane Milton began its approach on Sunday.
WLNS Morning Meteorologist Katie Nickolaou is among those who have been inundated with threatening messages after trying to debunk the theories.
“Killing meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes,” she tweeted. “I can’t believe I just had to type that.”
WLNS Morning Meteorologist Katie Nickolaou is among those inundated with threatening messages after trying to debunk conspiracy theories
Hundreds of lives have been lost after two of the most damaging hurricanes in the country’s history touched down on the south coast in quick succession
Social media went into overdrive this week when a relatively quiet hurricane season was brutally disrupted by two of the most damaging hurricanes in the country’s history.
More than 220 people died when Hurricane Helene hit Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas late last month.
Milton’s death toll was reported to have reached double digits just hours after the Category 3 made landfall late Wednesday night near Sarasota, Florida.
Some suggested the storm was designed as part of a government land-grabbing program.
Others, including Taylor-Greene, seemed to suggest the storm was deliberately steered across red-leaning counties in an effort to harm Republican election efforts.
“Seemingly overnight, ideas that would once have been ridiculed as very fringe, bizarre positions suddenly become mainstream and it makes my job much harder,” meteorologist Matthew Cappucci told me. Rolling stone.
“The life cycle of an average hurricane is burned by the energy of about 10,000 nuclear bombs.
“The idea that we can even influence, let alone direct, something like this is so bizarre that, unfortunately, it’s almost funny.”
TikTok has become a breeding ground for conspiracies, with nearly two million viewers tuning in to a video claiming Helene was sent to North Carolina to clear the area for lithium mining.
“Let’s be clear: Hurricane Helene was a weather-driven storm designed to displace residents of western N. Carolina so that a land grab could occur,” claims a video with more than 100,000 views.
Veteran WBMA-LD forecaster James Spann took to social media himself after being ‘inundated’ with claims that four more hurricanes are being ‘sent’ towards Florida
He faced further abuse after outlining some of the claims on Facebook
Millions of people have seen claims on social media that the disasters were deliberately caused
Meteorologist Matthew Cappucci said ‘people latch onto these fringe views’
Another 500,000 people clicked on a poster’s theory that the storm was caused by “cloud seeding gone wrong.”
Veteran WBMA-LD forecaster James Spann himself took to social media after being “inundated” with claims that four more hurricanes are being “sent” toward Florida this month and that the moon has disappeared.
“Stop lying about the government controlling the weather, or else,” someone told him.
“Can you just keep it off this page?” the Alabama weatherman asked followers on his Facebook page as Milton approached.
“I try to release critical weather information in a calm manner, your rhetoric is a huge distraction that we don’t need right now.”
But he soon deleted the post after a barrage of abuse.
“It is clear that we live in a society full of hate, anger, rage and the inability to think critically,” he said.
“I’ve been doing this for 46 years and it’s never been like this.”
Meteorologists have been embroiled in culture war skirmishes for years as arguments about climate change have become politically charged.
Chris Gloninger, the chief meteorologist for KCCI Channel 8 News in Iowa, quit his job and went into hiding last year after his broadcasts on the subject drew death threats against him and his wife.
But the approach to the election has turned meteorologists into lightning rods of discontent.
“The 2024 disinformation is fueled to some extent by political polarization,” said Professor Sarah DeYoung of the University of Delaware Disaster Research Center.
“I think that’s consistent with the fact that there’s a presidential election this year.”
Taylor Green, who previously blamed “space lasers” for causing wildfires in California, was reprimanded by GOP colleagues after suggesting the government was responsible for the hurricanes.
“Yes, they can control the weather,” the Georgian congressman tweeted. “It’s ridiculous for someone to lie and suggest this isn’t possible.”
Chris Gloninger of KCCI Channel 8 News in Iowa quit his job and went into hiding last year after his broadcasts on the subject provoked death threats against him and his wife.
Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been criticized by colleagues for amplifying claims that the hurricanes could have been prevented
Her Republican colleague Carlos Gimenez suggested she “get her head examined,” and President Biden said the conspiracy theories are getting “even more bizarre.”
‘We have it under control again? It’s beyond ridiculous. It has to stop,” he said.
Cappucci has also been told that space lasers cause weather disasters.
“Ignorance becomes socially acceptable,” he said.
‘If I had told you forty or fifty years ago that I thought the moon was fake, people would have laughed at me. Now people are connecting with these incredibly fringe views.
“It’s disappointing and disturbing that I post a hurricane forecast and people accuse me of causing the hurricane by working for some secret Illuminati entity.”
“Science is one of the few things that doesn’t care about politics,” he added.
“If a tornado comes your way, your voter registration won’t be checked.”