Scientists debate solar geoengineering amid misinformation claims

Recent social‑media posts have revived a series of unfounded claims that the United States government is manipulating weather events, alleging that President Joe Biden engineered a storm dubbed “Hurricane Milton,” that high‑altitude aircraft are dispersing “chemtrails” to control the climate, and that state‑run cloud‑seeding operations caused the record floods in Dubai. These assertions have been circulating alongside unrelated political commentary, prompting fact‑checking organizations and meteorological agencies to issue clarifications.

The National Hurricane Center confirmed that no tropical system named Milton existed in the 2024 Atlantic season and that the storm patterns cited in the posts are consistent with naturally occurring cyclonic activity driven by sea‑surface temperatures and atmospheric dynamics. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency explained that the visible trails behind commercial jets are contrails—condensation of water vapor at high altitudes—not chemical agents, and that no federal program distributes substances for weather control. Moreover, the United Arab Emirates’ National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority reported that the Dubai flooding resulted from unprecedented rainfall linked to a regional monsoon surge, with no evidence of cloud‑seeding interventions. Authorities continue to monitor misinformation, emphasizing reliance on peer‑reviewed science and official data for accurate weather reporting.