The Top 6 Weather Conspiracy Theories Debunked
For whatever reason, many weather conspiracy theories have crawled out of the fringes and into mainstream discussions. Over the years, many of us have tried to play 'Whac-A-Mole' with them, but they live on like 'zombies' marching around the Internet and social media wasteland. Let's try to debunk the top six weather conspiracies currently in circulation right now.
Cloud Seeding
Let's start here since it has been in the news lately. People have done there 'own research' and concluded that cloud seeding caused the Texas Floods. That has been disproven. While there is plenty of information out there about cloud seeding, it is important to develop a filter to distinguish sales pitch from science. As I recently wrote in my cloud seeding primer, it is not new, and results have been found inconclusive or minimally effective at best. My colleague Tom Gill puts it best that, 'The effect of cloud seeding on the kinds of floods we've seen recently is comparable to striking a match to a raging inferno.' Candidly, I wish it was more effective so that we could eradicate economically harmful drought and raging wildfires like those happening across the U.S. right now.
In this photo provided by the National Park Service, smoke from wildfires settles over Grand Canyon ... More National Park in northern Arizona on Friday, July 11, 2025. (Joelle Baird/Grand Canyon National Park)
Geoengineering and Chemtrails
The concept of geoengineering has been around for decades. As scholar within the field, it has also been referred to as 'climate intervention.' It has been studied by the National Academies and many credible scientific organizations. The American Meteorological Society wrote a policy statement in 2022 that stated, 'Such efforts are now commonly referred to as climate intervention (also called geoengineering): the deliberate manipulation of physical, chemical, or biological aspects of the Earth system with the intention of tempering the harmful effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.'
Oddly, in recent years, I have noticed a disturbing conflation of geoengineering with misinformation about contrails. A National Weather Service website defines contrails as, 'Condensation trails, frequently called Contrails…. Cloud-like streamers frequently observed to form behind aircraft flying in clear, cold, humid air.' NWS noted two processes for formation. The website went on to say, 'The first method occurs when water vapor that accompanies the exhaust from a jet engine is added to the atmosphere. If the humidifying effect of this moisture addition overcomes the heat of combustion, then exhaust trails will form…. The second process for forming a condensation trail occurs in air that is clear, but almost fully saturated with water vapor. The aerodynamic pressure reduction resultant of air flowing around a propeller or wing tips can cool the air to induce condensation, thus forming 'aerodynamic trails.''
TORONTO, ON - February 3 - The breath of a worker on Yonge St. can be seen in the air on a bitterly ... More cold day in Toronto. Lance McMillan/Toronto StarFebruary-3-2023 (Photo by Lance McMillan/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
In my over 30 years of experience as an atmospheric scientist, there are things that I have discovered about public understanding of weather. Concepts like probability of precipitation, concepts that are counter to personal mental models, and multiple processes are challenging. For example, temperature decreases as altitude increases. Most planes are flying in very cold altitudes. Though not a perfect analogy, the breath we 'see' on a cold day helps to visualize what's happening with contrails. They are not mind-altering or weather-controlling sprays. The Royal Aeronautical Society has a great website debunking 'chemtrails.' The American Association for the Advancement of Science is one the largest and most credible science societies in the world. AAAS also debunked them by reviewing perspectives from several top experts.
Steering Or Controlling Hurricanes
I was literally stunned to see claims that Hurricane Milton or Hurricane Helene were being controlled or created. While on a major network being interviewed about Milton, I was asked about it. Yikes! I find it to be quite disrespectful to all families impacted by such tragic storms. I certainly wish we could steer or control hurricanes so that they could be sent out to sea and not harm a single soul or piece of infrastructure. Every now and then, the idea of 'nuking' hurricanes resurfaces. That thought has been around for a while too, but in a previous piece, I discussed why experts have concluded that's a bad idea.
Several years ago people claimed that the U.S. government had a massive cloud machine. It turned out to be a NASA engine test facility in Mississippi. In recent months, it has emerged that some people believe weather radars are being weaponized to control the weather or harm people. CNN's Andrew Freedman documented this trend.
TOPSHOT - A drone image shows the dome of Tropicana Field which has been torn open due to Hurricane ... More Milton in St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 10, 2024. At least four people were confirmed killed as a result of two tornadoes triggered by Hurricane Milton on the east coast of the US state of Florida, local authorities said Thursday. (Photo by Bryan R. SMITH / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
HAARP
Relatively speaking, the HAARP conspiracy theory might be feeling a little neglected these days. It's one that has been around for a while, but it has been in the shadows lately compared to the new batch out there. Like many of these conspiracy theories, HAARP is rooted in real science but has been distorted, conflated, and misrepresented. According to University of Alaska's website, 'The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, is a scientific endeavor aimed at studying the properties and behavior of the ionosphere.' That is region of the atmosphere about 50 to 400 miles above Earth's surface. The United States Air Force transition the research facility to the university in 2015, and it continues to be used for ionospheric research not weather manipulation.
The Northern Lights appear in the sky in Svolvaer, Norway, on October 22, 2023. The Northern Lights ... More occur due to the interplay between the sun and Earth's magnetic field, which propels electrons through the atmosphere at rapid velocities. (Photo by Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Climate Change Is A Hoax
Much of what we are seeing with weather today can likely be associated with something that scientists have warned about for decades. Though weather certainly varies naturally, climate experts warned of an accelerated water cycle, intense rainstorms, sea level rise, mega-heatwaves, and changes to tropical cyclone intensities. While data continues to indicate that most people 'get it' about climate change, there is about 10% of the U.S. population that is dismissive. From that crowd, you typically here 'zombie theories like:'
2024 results from the 6 Americas Study.
I wrote an article in 2017 addressing these and there are several good websites out there that debunk them and other common things that we hear.
General circulation patterns.
The Earth Is Flat
While not technically a weather conspiracy theory, there are several aspects of weather, among other things, that disprove the notion that Earth is flat. We can start with imagery from weather satellites or spacecraft. Additionally, the vibrant colors of sunrises and sunsets is an exercise in physics but is a natural process that proves Earth is not flat.
A view of Earth from the Space Shuttle Discovery shows late afternoon sun on the Andes Mountains, ... More with glare and heavy cloud illumination.
The presence of a warm tropical regions and cold polar regions, respectively, is additional evidence. Earth's equatorial region receives more heat energy from the sun. Atmospheric circulation and ocean currents are, in part, explained by this polar-to-tropical temperature difference. Finally, weather radar beams and their ability to detect storms are affected by Earth's curvature.
People cling to conspiracy theories for a multitude of reasons. This 2020 essay provides a deep dive into literacy deficiencies, fear, psychological reasoning, disproportionate weighting of information on the Internet, and other factors that perpetuate them.
Radar beams and the curvature of the Earth.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fast Company
5 hours ago
- Fast Company
Comic-Con 2025 has arrived. Here's what to expect
Tens of thousands of fans — many in costumes — will descend Thursday on Comic-Con International, the four day pop culture spectacle that will feature updates on the new 'Predator' movie, 'Alien' series and a special appearance by George Lucas. Just don't expect major news about the future of Marvel's movie slate or what's next for the hit relaunch of DC's high-flying 'Superman' franchise. Both studios are sitting out Comic-Con 2025, as far as their film slates go. An estimated 135,000 people will attend the convention, which will greet Lucas on Sunday for his first Comic-Con appearance. The 'Star Wars' creator will discuss his new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that will open next year in Los Angeles. Fans of the 'Alien' and 'Predator' franchises will have plenty to cheer. Elle Fanning, star of 'Predator: Badlands,' will discuss the film at Comic-Con's massive Hall H this week. FX will also bring the stars and creators of 'Alien: Earth,' a series that will unleash the Xenomorph species on Earth next month. 'Alien: Earth' will be one of the projects that brings a massive interactive experience to San Diego, with a replica of spacecraft from the series. The attraction will feature what's described as a terrifying mission at night. Marvel may not be presenting new movies, but it will have a 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' attraction near the convention, a tie-in to Friday's release of the latest attempt to successfully launch its 'first family' in theaters. Thousands of fans got a sneak peek at the convention's 460,000 square foot (42,700 square meter) exhibitor section, which features exclusive merchandise, comic book art and exhibits from brands like Star Wars, Lego, Nickelodeon, Paramount and more.
Medscape
6 hours ago
- Medscape
ASCO 2025: Melanoma TILs, Toxicity, and Diet Insights
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Welcome, everybody. My name is Teresa Amaral. Today I'm here with you to follow up on my presentation on the best of ASCO 2025. Today, we'll have two different sections. The first one is dedicated to the rapid oral communications, and the second one is dedicated to the oral communications that took place on the last day of the congress. For the rapid oral communications, we'll focus on one topic that came through three presentations, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy. Then we will look into a very interesting aspect: the reduction in toxicity associated with immunotherapy that we know is an important aspect for patients that need to receive immunotherapy. And finally, we'll look into a potential modifiable factor that might be associated with better outcomes in patients receiving immunotherapy, which is a diet rich in fiber. In the oral communications, we'll focus on the adjuvant trials — two of them that were quite important to be presented in this session. Then [I'll discuss] a trial that dealt with an unanswered question, which is how long should we treat patients in the metastatic setting. And finally, we will look into two different trials. The first one was on sequencing therapy, which was the DREAMseq trial on the final analysis, and then [there was] a specific analysis for patients that have symptomatic brain metastases, which are still a population of patients that unfortunately are excluded from the majority of clinical trials despite the fact that they do not a very good outcome. Starting with the TIL therapy, the first trial or the first presentation that I want to show you is a new way of applying TIL therapy. Basically, this is a new engineered TIL cell therapy that is intended to be given to patients that already received immune checkpoint inhibitors — so [patients] that are resistant to this therapy. But the interesting part of this type of therapy is that it doesn't require giving interleukin-2, and it also is possible to be given with a low dose of lymphodepletion. This is one of the reasons why I decided to bring this study because we know that TIL therapy might have a good outcome in the long run and these are the results that we are going to discuss in the next presentation. One of the problems is the toxicity that is associated with the pre-therapy and the after-therapy that we need to give to these patients, which includes this lymphodepleting chemotherapy and then the interleukin-2. What these very preliminary data showed is that it is indeed feasible to do this type of therapy by not giving interleukin-2 and reducing the lymphodepleting chemotherapy, and that the overall response rate was quite reassuring because we have an overall response rate that is around 67%. The median duration of response was not reached. Of course, we will need to wait for further data because this phase 1/2 trial is recruiting and we will need to confirm this data further in a broader population with more patients. But I think these results are quite reassuring and will maybe allow us to give this type of therapy to a broader spectrum of patients, as we don't need to have fitter patients to receive this therapy because we have low toxicity. The next discussion, or the next work, that was presented was indeed quite interesting because it looked into the 5-year-old outcome of another TIL product that is called lifileucel. Basically, what the authors showed was that this one-time therapy that was given was able to demonstrate durable and deepening responses in patients with advanced melanoma. It was also interesting to see the long-term toxicity is not more than what we saw before, because the toxicity is mostly associated with the interleukin-2 and lymphodepleting chemotherapy that is necessary to give with this product. So in line with what we discussed in the previous work, this is one of the reasons why most patients, or some patients, cannot receive this type of therapy. What we saw was that after 5 years, approximately 20% of the patients remained alive. Obviously, the best outcomes are seen in the patients that do respond. If the patient responds, the chances that they have a long-term outcome are significant, which is expected. So, the other side shows that this might be feasible, at least for approximately one fifth of the population. Another point that I would like to go through with you is that we saw two works looking into TILs that are definitely a potential therapeutic option for patients that received therapy in the first line, or patients that did not benefit from immunotherapy in the first line. The third work that I would like to discuss with you is the fact — and it was also presented in these rapid oral communications — that indeed not all TILs that we give to patients are the same. What the authors from this work looked into are the infusion product characteristics that are able to predict the response of patients that are treated with TILs. What they showed is the TIL persistence and also the distinctive TIL population in terms of immunophenotypic features, in terms of the proportion of CD8+ T cells, and the high surface expression of LAG3+. All of these characteristics are associated with improved TIL outcomes in patients with metastatic melanoma, meaning that not everything that we infuse that are called TILs work exactly the same and have the same influence, let's say, on the patient's response. This is obviously important because in the future, we might need to concentrate on some strategies, or on other strategies, that modulate ex vivoTIL expansion, so that we have the optimal TIL phenotype associated with better outcomes and we make sure the TILs that we are giving to our patients are the ones that will most likely produce a better outcome — a longer response, but a more durable response. I found this work quite interesting because it's always nice and important to look into these details and understand exactly what we are treating our patients with and how these treatment characteristics influence the patient's outcomes. The second point I would like to discuss with you is the toxicity that I mentioned in the very beginning. We treat a significant amount of patients with immunotherapy, but we know that one of the problems of immunotherapy is the toxicity associated with the therapy. Several strategies are being investigated to reduce the toxicity associated with immunotherapy. One of the strategies that was presented this year is looking into interleukin-6 receptor blocking with an antibody called sarilumab. This was tested in patients that received a combination of ipilimumab, nivolumab, and relatlimab — patients with resectable stage III or stage IV melanoma. Basically, what the author showed was that indeed it was possible to reduce the toxicity associated with this triple combination. Not only did this reduce the grade 3 to grade 5 immune-related adverse events to 12% when we use this interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor, but it also resulted in the best overall response rate being more than 60% — 64%, approximately. This means that it might not only be able to reduce the severe toxicity, so grade 3 and grade 4 adverse events, but also allow patients to have a long-term benefit — especially because this is one of the highest overall response rates that we saw recently in terms of combination of immunotherapy. Obviously, these data need to be confirmed by a larger trial looking into whether this triple combination with, or without, this interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor allows lower toxicity and the high response rate we saw in this smaller trial. Finally, for the rapid oral communications, I would like to show you a trial that looks into acting on some potential modulated factors, including the diet of the patients that we treat with immune checkpoint inhibitors. This was a randomized phase 2 trial that looked into a high-fiber diet intervention in patients who received immune checkpoint inhibitors. What they showed is that it is feasible to do these kinds of studies, but it's quite challenging, especially because some patients progressed earlier or abandoned the study due to other aspects that did not really have to do with the diet itself. Giving this high-fiber diet is safe and it's also well tolerated, and it seems that this high-fiber diet might lead to improved responses in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors. I must say that it might lead [to these responses], only because these are very preliminary data and they need some kind of confirmation before we start prescribing high fiber diets to all patients that are receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors. I think it's very interesting that these types of factors are being analyzed and are being discussed and investigated because these might be, I would say, simple changes that we can make in order to improve the patient's outcomes to the current therapies that we offer them anyhow. Moving into oral communications, I will start by looking into the adjuvant trials. Two important adjuvant trials were discussed. The first one was RELATIVITY-098. This was a trial that investigated programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) monotherapy vs PD-1 plus a LAG-3 inhibitor in the adjuvant setting. Unfortunately, the trial was negative, but I think it's very important that we show these negative trials because it allows us to understand what happened and prevents other companies or other groups from looking at the same question exactly the same way, because the reasons, or the potential reasons, for the failure of the trial were not known or were not published. I think it's very important that these negative data are presented so that we can all learn and avoid repetition of the same issues. Basically, the combination did not improve relapse-free survival compared to the monotherapy, although there were no new safety data. Interestingly enough, from the biomarker analysis and the preliminary analysis that was presented, the message came out that for this combination to work, it may be necessary for some tumor cells to be present and not completely excised, as was [the case] in this setting. These comparisons were made with the same combination in the metastatic setting, where the combination was better than immunotherapy. This kind of analysis is always interesting to look into because it might give us some hints on where we can move with this combination in the future.
Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
Leaping sturgeon provide a show for nature lovers on Maine rivers
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The Kennebec River in Maine's capital city of Augusta is known for its population of Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon. The fish sometimes leap completely from the water, as at least one did on Wednesday. The shortnose population on the river nearly doubled from about 5,100 in the late 1970s to more than 9,400 around 2000, and it has likely grown since, state biologists have said. The ancient fish have also shown signs of recovering elsewhere in Maine, such as the Saco River further south. Scientists have proposed a number of reasons why sturgeon jump out of the water, including regulating their swim bladder, communicating with other sturgeon, shedding parasites and avoiding predators. Shortnose sturgeon can weigh up to 60 pounds (27 kilograms), while Atlantic sturgeon can be much larger, with some weighing as much as 800 pounds (363 kilograms). The fish thrill nature lovers who are fortunate to catch their sudden leaps along Maine rivers. Catching a glimpse of them is often a matter of luck.
