Red sky in Florida sparks geoengineering conspiracy theories
- Published on December 6, 2024 at 19:39
- 4 min read
- By Manon JACOB, AFP USA
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"I don't know what's going on here... It is red outside... Why is it red? There's no sun, it's overcast," a person says in a November 19, 2024 clip with 1.2 million views on TikTok.
The footage was purportedly taken around 5 pm in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Keyword searches across social media platforms indicate the user also shared the clip on Facebook. Other accounts in the same area shared similar pictures of pink and red skies, including WEAR ABC 3 News (archived here).
Multiple posts claim the red skies are evidence of geoengineering and weather manipulation.
"There is something going on with our weather," says a November 23 Facebook post with more than 230,000 views.
The claims are the latest in a spate of baseless conspiracy theories about weather manipulation, including suggestions that the government is creating or steering hurricanes for nefarious purposes.
Experts told AFP the video shared online shows a phenomenon called rayleigh scattering (archived here), which occurs when sunlight hits smaller particles in the atmosphere, causing blue light to scatter and sending red light to the surface (archived here).
"This is the same process that creates orange hues during sunsets," National Weather Service meteorologist Da'Vel Reed Johnson said December 4.
He said weather data from November 19 showed favorable conditions for scattering in the region due to precipitation.
"There were additional water molecules in the air in the region with a low sun angle," Johnson said. "This scattered the sunlight more than usual creating a redder sky."
Christopher Boxe, an associate professor of atmospheric modeling at Howard University (archived here), also attributed bright colors in the sky to a combination of local weather and broader atmospheric and environmental conditions.
He said seasonal weather, along with shorter days and lower sunlight intensity, can enhance the effects of light scattering -- particularly during sunrise or sunset.
"Yes, man-made chemicals can affect the color of the sky, but achieving an effect as striking as what is seen in the viral Florida video would typically require very specific conditions and an unusual volume of aerosolized material in the atmosphere," Boxe said December 5.
He added that this level of intervention is rare and unlikely -- and that natural phenomena such as dust, wildfires or volcanic activity "are far more common causes."
Sen Chiao, director of the NOAA Cooperative Science Center in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (archived here), agreed, saying December 5 that such a widespread, lasting effect could not result from a man-made process.
AFP has debunked other geoengineering and weather control claims here, here and here.
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