Conspiracy theories about the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season

The previously quiet 2024 Atlantic hurricane season began experiencing a surge in activity in late September. With Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, two extremely damaging and deadly major hurricanes, impacting the United States in just two weeks, it led to heightened attention by the media and on social media.

During this late-season surge, conspiracy theories spread about the nature of Helene and Milton, and about the post-storm disaster recovery. Numerous falsehoods and conspiracies were spread by several American far-right influencers, Republican politicians, and Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate. These widespread rumors caused significant difficulties for first responders and official recovery workers, hampering rescue efforts, and some officials were subject to threats of violence. The White House and Federal Emergency Management Agency issued statements in response to these claims.

In early 2024, hurricane forecasters predicted a highly-active season, citing the La Niña effect and warm sea surface temperatures.^[1] After the exceptionally early Hurricane Beryl, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintained this prediction through August.^[2] In what was expected to be the peak season, however, there were few storms^[3] and some called the season a "bust".^[4]

In late September and early October, Hurricanes Helene and Milton surprised onlookers, breaking the lull and causing massive devastation.^[5] Helene caused massive damage across the Southeastern United States, and in particular caused exceptional flooding in inland North Carolina, far from the coast.^[6] Milton broke records in rapid intensification, strengthening to a Category 5 and increasing its wind speeds by 90 mph in 24 hours.^[7] Measured by accumulated cyclone energy through early October, the season is currently the eighth-most-active on record.^[8]

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia's 14th congressional district claimed in a tweet on October 3 that it is possible to use weather modification to influence hurricanes.^[9] Three days later, Greene made another post claiming weather modification was possible and in use.^[10] Prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones made claims that Hurricanes Milton and Helene were "weather weapons" created by the U.S. government.^[11] Meteorologists Matthew Cappucci, Katie Nickolaou, and James Spann received threats, accusing them of concealing that the U.S. government was controlling the hurricane.^[12]

Claims that the HAARP research project has the ability to modify the weather have been popular for years.^[14] Despite claims that its transmissions were involved in Hurricane Helene,^[15] the project is extremely low-powered and does not have the ability to control weather.^[16] Likewise, the weather radar system known as NEXRAD was the subject of claims that it could be used to control weather patterns.^[17] As a radar system it emits only a small amount of energy and is not capable of influencing weather.^[18]

Proposals for weather modification to redirect hurricane paths have been found to induce feelings of anger in Florida residents.^[19] Regardless, the U.S. government retired hurricane seeding experiments in 1963 after attempts proved futile^[20] and meteorologists no longer consider it feasible.^[21]

One common belief is that the U.S. government is using the disaster to seize land, in particular destroyed homes.^[22] Following Hurricane Helene, rumors spread that Chimney Rock, North Carolina, had been intentionally abandoned so that the federal government could mine lithium after evacuating the residents^[23] or even leaving the residents for dead.^[24] County officials denied any plans of the sort.^[25] Similar rumors spread in the days leading to Hurricane Milton's landfall in Florida, leading to the governor's office to rebut claims of FEMA seizing Floridians' homes.^[26]

Social media featured many viral AI-generated images supposedly depicting the hurricane and its response. One image of a flooded town was claimed to be Gatlinburg, Tennessee, prompting a response from town officials that the town was not flooded and safe to visit.^[27]

After Helene, an AI-generated image of a girl holding a puppy while sitting in a boat floating on flooded waters circulated among Republicans, who used it as evidence of failures of the Biden administration to respond to the disaster.^[28] Some sources did not retract the image after learning it was fake.^[29] Another image depicted Donald Trump wading through floodwaters to rescue people, despite Trump not performing any hands-on relief work.^[30] Following Milton's track across Florida, AI-generated images depicting flooding in Walt Disney World posted to Telegram by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti were quickly republished by numerous Russian news networks^[31] and spread widely online on the English-speaking Internet.^[32] AI-generated and CG images supposedly documenting the October 9 tornado outbreak were widely shared, including by British tabloid The Mirror.^[33] Chinese influence operations have also spread AI-generated misinformation related to said hurricanes.^[34]

On October 3, Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of spending FEMA disaster relief funds on housing for "illegal immigrants", and claimed that the agency had run out of funding for disaster recovery efforts.^[35] Ohio Representative Jim Jordan similarly claimed that disaster funds had gone to house migrants.^[36] Elon Musk amplified the claim, indicating that he viewed FEMA's actions as "treason" and endorsing a call for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be arrested.^[37] FEMA has not redirected any disaster relief funding to migrant resettlement,^[38] and FEMA has continued to spend money towards relief efforts.^[39]

Rumors began circulating that FEMA officials were confiscating aid and intentionally restricting volunteer efforts in Republican areas of North Carolina. Multiple viral posts on social media claimed that local and state law enforcement in North Carolina sought to arrest FEMA staff for allegedly hindering relief work,^[40] a claim denied by state officials.^[41] Elon Musk faced criticism for amplifying false claims that FEMA had been expropriating aid shipments,^[42] blocking private citizens from rendering aid,^[43] and that sheriffs in North Carolina had threatened to arrest FEMA staff.^[44] Real Raw News falsely claimed that the United States Marine Corps were using snipers to kill FEMA employees.^[45] DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FEMA director of public affairs Jaclyn Rothenberg, and Asheville mayor Esther Manheimer received antisemitic attacks online^[46] and as a result have feared for their safety in response work.^[47] FEMA has received credible threats directed at its staff, including calls for militias to shoot emergency responders.^[48] A report of militias hunting FEMA staff led aid workers to pause or relocate their work in Rutherford County, North Carolina; one armed man acting alone was arrested on October 14, 2024.^[49]

The Cuban Army reported that false rumors were spreading online surrounding the collapse of the Pozo Azul Dam in San Antonio del Sur after Hurricane Oscar. The dam never reached full capacity nor sustained any damage from the hurricane.^[50]

Multiple commentators alleged that Republican politicians' promotion of these claims was intended to gain an advantage in the 2024 United States presidential election. Jim Puzzanghera in The Boston Globe claimed that the GOP was "seeking an edge" in hurricane-battered Georgia because it is a swing state, using claims about the Biden administration's response efforts to reduce support for the Kamala Harris's campaign.^[51] The Guardian misinformation reporter Rachel Leingang noted that misinformation was likely so prevalent due to the proximity to the election, quoting a fellow at the American Immigration Council who claimed that "there's no question that this level of falsehoods would not be spread were there not an election a month away."^[52]

Local officials and relief workers have had to expend resources combatting misinformation that might otherwise be used toward first response work.^[53] FEMA and White House officials have expressed concern that survivors and others impacted by the storms may be less likely to seek relief from the agency due to the misinformation.^[54] In response, the White House directed federal agencies to engage with the public on social media with evidence the government was on the ground helping relief efforts.^[55] FEMA added a page on its website to rebut viral falsehoods.^[56] Congressman Chuck Edwards, whose district was heavily affected by Hurricane Helene, released a statement to his constituents rebutting many false claims.^[57] Particular criticism was given to Twitter under Elon Musk, where recent changes to content moderation had made it more difficult to discern reliable sources.^[58]

• Chemtrail conspiracy theory – Conspiracy theory about contrails
• Climate engineering – Deliberate and large-scale intervention in Earth's climate system
• Cloud seeding – Method that condenses clouds to cause rainfall
• Cloudbuster – Pseudoscientific rain maker
• Fake news in the United States – The spread of false information in the United States
• FEMA camps conspiracy theory – Belief that US citizens will be imprisoned as a New World Order is established
• List of conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump
• Post-truth politics – Political culture where facts are considered irrelevant
• QAnon – American conspiracy theory and political movement
• Weather modification in North America

• "Hurricane Rumor Response". Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• "Hurricane Helene: Fact vs. Rumor". North Carolina Department of Public Safety.