West Chester Twp. state rep promotes link to weather conspiracy theory

The Associated Press reported that Milton’s powerful push toward Florida just days after Helene devastated large parts of the Southeast likely has some in the region wondering if they are being targeted. In some corners of the internet, Helene has already sparked conspiracy theories and disinformation suggesting the government somehow aimed the hurricane at Republican voters.

Besides discounting common sense, such theories disregard weather history that shows the hurricanes are hitting many of the same areas they have for centuries. They also presume an ability for humans to quickly reshape the weather far beyond relatively puny efforts such as cloud-seeding.

“If meteorologists could stop hurricanes, we would stop hurricanes,” said Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany. “If we could control the weather, we would not want the kind of death and destruction that’s happened.”

A fully developed hurricane releases heat energy that is the equivalent of a 10-megaton nuclear bomb every 20 minutes — more than all the energy used at a given time by humanity, according to National Hurricane Center tropical analysis chief Chris Landsea.

And scientists are now finding many ways climate change is making hurricanes worse, with warmer oceans that add energy and more water in the warming atmosphere to fall as rain, said Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

“The amount of energy a hurricane generates is insane,” said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. It’s the height of human arrogance to think people have the power to change them, he said.

The article Gross shared suggested that transmissions from the Next Generation Weather Radar system operated by the federal government can steer the direction of storms and are manipulating Milton to keep it in Florida.

Gross is not the only politician to promote a conspiracy theory surrounding the government controlling the weather. Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X on Oct. 3: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, previously said that false claims like Greene’s — which allege Washington is steering hurricanes toward Republican voters to impact the presidential election — do more harm than good in the midst of a natural disaster.

Criswell said on ABC’s “This Week” that such baseless claims around the response to Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230, have created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground.

“We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous — truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help,” she said.

Gross faces Democrat London Meador of West Chester Twp. for the 45th State House District.

Meador says Gross’ comments “show she has no business legislating.”

“The sad part is that over two terms, Rep. Gross has ushered in unfounded, fictitious stories in an effort to grow her national profile through social media, while delivering a lackluster result on her legislative agenda,” Meador said. “It is time to elect a representative who is focused on real issues and real people, rather than one who is focused on ‘debunking hurricanes’, removing seat belts and banishing witchcraft.”

This newspaper reached out to Gross for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.