In the world of conspiracy theories, few ideas are as convincingly bizarre as the idea that hurricanes are manufactured weapons unleashed by the government to cause mayhem.

But here we are.

With hurricane season designed to last until Decemberunderstanding the science and debunking dangerous misinformation will likely continue. The Atlantic hurricane of 2024 The season alone has already seen intense storms with damage in hundreds of billionsand experts warn that late-season hurricanes could remain a serious threat to vulnerable communities.

Everyone knows the power behind a typical Atlantic hurricane is no small thing, yet for some, it’s easier to imagine government interference than nature wreaking havoc. To put things into perspective, a hurricane releases about 5 x 10¹⁹ joules of energy per day — an amount about 200 times the world’s total daily electricity production, according to the study. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s 50 trillion joules — enough to light 9.64 trillion 60-watt light bulbs for a day straight, or stream 198 trillion one-hour conspiracy theorist sessions Alex Jones’ Information Warfare on a standard 70-watt laptop, according to a highly accurate Reckon analysis. For the record, that’s 22.6 million years of streaming Info Wars.

On October 9, Jones took advantage of hurricane activity as a sign of government tyrannyclaiming that Hurricanes Helene and Milton were engineered by programs such as the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program. (HAARP) to destroy Republican leaning areas before the elections and steal lithium deposits under the houses of the people of North Carolina. Rep. USA Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia wrote on X that “they” can control the weather. “It’s ridiculous for someone to lie and say it can’t be done,” she added.

Hence the assertions that FEMA ran ran out of money after giving it to undocumented immigrants and that it only offers aid in the form of loans. Federal agency quickly denied the claimswarning that such misinformation could erode public confidence in official guidance during disasters and confuse people in need. ​

The HAARP missionfar from producing hurricanes, it is studying the part of the atmosphere that affects radio and satellite signals. The project started in 1993 but was handed over to the University of Alaska Fairbanks by the US Air Force in 2015. So there is no government control there.

But what would it actually take to create a hurricane?

Aside from the unimaginable energy requirements to keep a hurricane churning, it would also mean creating the perfect large-scale conditions for one to form, as Prof. Kerry Emanuela renowned MIT meteorologist told Reckon.

“It would need a hot ocean, an atmosphere that’s not too warm and still at different heights, up to about 10 miles,” he said, noting that while these conditions often align naturally during hurricane season , are currently impossible to reproduce. “Then they would need a way to destroy the wind shear in the atmosphere so that the hurricane could form.”

Wind shear is the change in wind speed or direction at different altitudes. It often prevents storms from becoming hurricanes and can even weaken fully formed ones. Wind shear is coming far and wideincluding high-altitude jet streams, low- and high-pressure systems, and interactions with coastal or mountainous terrain to disrupt hurricane structure.

But that’s not even the hardest part.

For those who believe that a hurricane can be “steered” to hit a specific target, Emanuel is blunt: “The amount of technology and energy that would be required to do that is truly colossal and unimaginable. Without that, nothing you can do will create a hurricane.”

But the science fiction of hurricane control is born out of decades old science cloud seeding.

Cloud seeding is when aircraft or rockets disperse particles such as silver iodide into clouds to encourage precipitation. It was used since the 1940s. Originally discovered by General Electric scientists using dry ice, is a popular method of encouraging precipitation in drought-prone areas such as Idaho and Colorado. Even China has used cloud seeding to secure itself clear sky during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Gamesa practice they rely on to manage air quality and rainfall patterns.​

Scientists have recently explored solar geoengineering using injection of stratospheric aerosols techniques (SAI). The approach releases particles such as sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight, mimicking a cooling effect. However, these methods aim at mitigating climate change rather than controlling weather events.

However, there have been government attempts to control hurricanes.

“Scientists going back to the 1960s have been trying to find ways to prevent hurricanes or reduce their strength,” Prof. Emanuel said, referring to Project Stormwhich lasted two decades, finally ended in 1983 with an unsurprising result. “The results were completely inconclusive.”

“Even with modern theories, it wouldn’t work even if you tried it 1,000 times,” he added.