Meteorologists say they’ve been getting death threats for debunking wild conspiracy theories that they and the government are somehow behind the devastating hurricanes ravaging the US.
“Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes,” Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, wrote on X earlier this week alongside a screenshot of one threat she’d received.
“I can’t believe I just had to type that.”
The post aimed at Nickolaou, who works at the WLNS TV station, had called for others to “stop the breathing of those that made them and their affiliates.”
Meanwhile, Washington D.C.-based meteorologist Matthew Cappucci said he has received hundreds of messages from people accusing him of modifying the weather to create hurricanes from space lasers.
“For me to post a hurricane forecast and for people to accuse me of creating the hurricane by working for some secret Illuminati entity is disappointing and distressing — and it’s resulting in a decrease in public trust,” Cappucci told Rolling Stone.
And Veteran Alabama meteorologist James Spann said he, too, has faced a barrage of threats warning him: “Stop lying about the government controlling the weather or else.”
“I’ve been doing this for 46 years and it’s never been like this,” Spann, who works at WBMA, told the outlet.
“You’re working with two to three hours of sleep for multiple weeks under a high stress situation and then you deal with these threats that come in, it’ll beat you down.”
The conspiracy theories have picked up steam after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to suggest the spate of ferocious storms –With Hurricane Helene quickly followed this week by Milton — were controlled events.
“Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done,” she wrote last week in a post now seen 43.5 million times.
