Mass bird migration during Hurricane Helene triggers blue radar blooms, no evidence of weather modification by HAARP or NEXRAD

Following the recent landfall of Hurricane Helene which struck the west coast of Florida on 26 September 2024 as a Category 4 hurricane, a number of social media posts have speculated that ‘weather modifications’ influenced this event. 

For example, on 30 September 2024 a video was shared on Facebook, gathering over 27,000 interactions after claiming that ‘Hurricane Helene’s path and behavior could have been manipulated by NEXRAD frequency transmissions’. The same video was shared by another user the following day and gathered an additional 20,000 interactions. Meanwhile, other users claimed that ‘HAARP transmissions’ were similarly involved. 

Many speculations spiraled out of this event – but do any of these claims align with scientific evidence? We will investigate this question below.

Hurricanes are naturally-occurring phenomena – there is no evidence that humans can create them or manipulate their behavior

Being one of the most destructive and deadly natural phenomena on Earth^[1], understanding why and how hurricanes form is of great importance. And claiming that humans have somehow manipulated Hurricane Helene’s behavior to direct these impacts is a bold accusation requiring proper evidence. However, in recent social media posts making these claims, no scientific evidence or sources were cited – only a suggestion that the presence or absence of certain frequencies can influence hurricane behavior. But what does scientific evidence show about the origin of hurricanes and what can influence their behavior?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “a hurricane is a type of storm called a tropical cyclone, which forms over tropical or subtropical waters.” NOAA explains that “Hurricanes originate in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, the eastern North Pacific Ocean, and, less frequently, the central North Pacific Ocean” (Figure 1). The most recent hurricane – Hurricane Helene – formed in the Atlantic basin and made landfall in Florida, a state that is well-known to lie in a hurricane prone region. In other words, it is a completely normal place for hurricanes to cross/make landfall. 

For those who haven’t experienced or seen videos of hurricanes, it might be difficult to appreciate just how powerful they can be. As NOAA explains, “During just one hurricane, raging winds can churn out about half as much energy as the electrical generating capacity of the entire world”. Given their size and power, scientists do not currently have any feasible way to stop hurricanes. The NOAA Hurricane Research Division explains that there have been a number of suggested ideas of how to potentially modify a hurricane; however, they also explain:

“As carefully reasoned as some of these suggestions are, they all fall short of the mark because they fail to appreciate the size and power of tropical cyclones. For example, when hurricane Andrew struck South Florida in 1992, the eye and eyewall devastated a swath 20 miles wide. The heat energy released around the eye was 5,000 times the combined heat and electrical power generation of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant over which the eye passed.”

But did social media users recently uncover a new way to redirect hurricanes? Unfortunately not. The ability to modify and alter the course of hurricanes could save lives and prevent massive amounts of damage; however, there is no scientific evidence suggesting this is currently possible. Furthermore, HAARP and NEXRAD are not even mentioned among the hypothetical methods of modification which, once again, are not deemed feasible by scientists anyway.

Another fact-checking organization, Lead Stories, looked into similar claims and received a quote from Dr. Howard Diamond, Director of the Atmospheric Sciences and Modeling Division at NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory. The quote – which we confirmed directly with Dr. Diamond – reads:

“The genesis of Hurricane Helene, as is the case for any hurricane, formed on its own given the right conditions of sea surface temperature and upper atmospheric winds, and that was the case with Helene. HAARP is a small U.S. National Science Foundation funded ionospheric research facility in Fairbanks, Alaska, and for some reason has gained an incorrect reputation on parts of the Internet as being part of some nefarious global weather modification effort. Simply put, it is not, and HAARP had absolutely no connection to the formation of Hurricane Helene, the formation of any other hurricane, or the genesis of any other natural weather event for that matter. Neither HAARP nor NEXRAD can steer hurricanes; no technology that humans have can create, destroy, modify, intensify, or steer hurricanes in any way, shape, or form.”

When asked to assign a verdict for the claims being investigated in this review, Dr. Diamond explained they are ‘false’, which aligns with Dr. Diamond’s previous explanation that “neither HAARP nor NEXRAD can steer hurricanes”.

For additional insight, we also contacted Shirley Murillo, Deputy Director of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, who commented:

“The amount of energy sent out by NEXRAD radars is vanishingly small compared to the amount of energy expended in a hurricane.  The hurricane consists solely of air and water and the beam either just passes through or is partially reflected back by small water drops. It doesn’t have enough energy to move even those tiny drops.

As for HAARP, it’s in Alaska and its antennae are pointing up toward the ionosphere. There’s no way the beams would intercept a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.  It is not broadcasting enough energy to move water droplets so it couldn’t ‘push’ a storm even if it were aimed at a storm.”

HAARP explains on their website that their technology is not able to alter or control the weather. In response to a question on their FAQ page asking “Can HAARP control or manipulate the weather?”, HAARP writes:

“No. Radio waves in the frequency ranges that HAARP transmits are not absorbed in either the troposphere or the stratosphere—the two levels of the atmosphere that produce Earth’s weather. Since there is no interaction, there is no way to control the weather. The HAARP system is basically a large radio transmitter. Radio waves interact with electrical charges and currents, and do not significantly interact with the troposphere”

We reached out to HAARP directly, who confirmed information from their FAQ and provided the following comment from HAARP Director Jessica Matthews:

“The tragic loss of life and widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene serve as a solemn reminder of the immense power of natural disasters.  The research equipment at the HAARP facility is not capable of generating or amplifying such events.“

HAARP has been the subject of many past conspiracy theories, some of which we have covered in the links here and here. However, NEXRAD seems to be a newer target of misinformation As explained on NOAA’s website: “The Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) system is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars”, they explain that this system “detects precipitation and wind, and its data can be processed to map precipitation patterns and movement”. So what were the blue ‘blooms’ that appeared on the NEXRAD system during Hurricane Helene? Well, it turns out that these radars pick up more than just weather signals: they can also detect bird migrations. 

These signals are monitored by BirdCast, a collaborative group of scientific researchers who “turn weather radar data into information on the numbers and flight directions of birds aloft in order to expand the understanding of migratory bird movement”. As explained on their website:

“In 2013, NOAA deployed a new feature to U.S. radars called “dual polarization” (dual-pol, for short)—pulses of microwaves emitted at two angles instead of one. Radars outfitted with dual-pol allow for better discrimination of targets. For meteorologists, dual-pol data provide an ability to distinguish partially frozen sleet from droplets of rain; for ornithologists, they allow us to more easily separate birds from precipitation and other flying creatures.”

By processing this data, scientists are able to decipher radar signals to classify them into biological and non-biological patterns. As shown in Figure 2, the blue ‘blooms’ are biological signals picked up by NEXRAD which show bird passage migration; they were not ‘pulses to modify hurricanes’ that social media posts claimed were shown in NEXRAD radar maps (Figure 3).

Using BirdCast’s interactive tool – which anyone is free to check themselves (linked here) – Science Feedback checked the live bird migration map for the time of Hurricane Helene’s landfall (i.e., the night of 26 September 2024). Figure 4 shows the bird migration pattern at that time – showing nearly 500 million birds in flight – using the blue ‘blooms’ signals from NEXRAD (Figure 3), which were mischaracterized in recent social media posts. 

It is also worth noting that there is a large gap in bird migration over the southeastern states (Figures 3 and 4) where the storm was present (Figure 5). But this is no surprise; the Cornell Lab of Ornithology explains that “Most birds wait for favorable winds and weather before starting a migratory flight”. However, hurricanes are extreme weather events – Hurricane Helene brought wind speeds of up to 140 miles per hour, according to NOAA’s National Hurricane Center’s advisory around the time of landfall.

These storms can also entrain and displace birds; these effects are currently being monitored by BirdCast (linked here) following Hurricane Helene. 

Conclusion

Hurricane Helene was a naturally-forming tropical storm. Contrary to online claims, humans do not currently have the ability to create, modify, stop, or manipulate hurricanes. While scientists have proposed ideas for how a hurricane could potentially be stopped, none have been feasible given the size and power of hurricanes. Among the proposed methods, neither HAARP nor NEXRAD are mentioned. This is no surprise as scientists explain that these technologies do not have the ability to modify Earth’s weather. Recent social media posts pointed out that NEXRAD signals – presenting as blue ‘blooms’ on the presented maps – surrounded the hurricane signal. However, contrary to their claim that these were ‘transmissions to steer the hurricane’, the signals and pattern were shown to be the migration of nearly 500,000 birds. The absence of migration pattern signal in the area of the hurricane aligns with known bird activity that occurs during storms. 

REFERENCES

• 1 – Reed et al. (2022) Attribution of 2020 hurricane season extreme rainfall to human-induced climate change. Nature Communications.

Note:

Post publication, Science Feedback received comments from Deputy Director of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, Shirley Murillo, and HAARP Director Jessica Matthews. These comments were added to the review on 8 October 2024 and provided helpful context, but did not change the verdict of the claims.