Is weather modification real? A Florida lawmaker is trying to ban it. What are chemtrails?

Miami state Sen. Ileana Garcia has introduced legislation banning “weather modification activities” in Florida.

It is uncertain what actual practice she may be addressing, although the language of the bill and her social media reposts suggest she is seeking to ban “chemtrails,” the fear of a long-running conspiracy theory that nefarious people or government agencies are spreading toxic chemicals on an unsuspecting populace through the white trails in the sky left by airplanes.

If SB 56 passes, it would repeal nearly a dozen provisions in Florida statutes that allow state-licensed weather modification such as cloud-seeding to cause rain, block any future innovations, and prohibit the injection, release or dispersion of any substance or apparatus into the atmosphere within Florida’s borders “for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight.”

The bill also adds a fine of up to $10,000 for violations.

“As a leader in the community, I’m committed to addressing the real issues affecting our communities,” Garcia said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, where she also shared a post from a user praising her bill and pointing out suspicious contrails. “As a mother, daughter, and community member, I care deeply about our neighborhoods.”

In a later post, she blamed the media for “shaping the narrative” around the bill.

“The bill was drafted to address concerns and raise awareness surrounding these issues,” she said. “On the contrary, let’s debunk them.”

But chemtrails have been debunked for years.

What are chemtrails?

“Chemtrails,” as described by a Harvard University report, is a conspiracy theory buzzword that refers to types of contrails, the line-shaped clouds or “condensation trails” visible behind aircraft engines under certain atmospheric conditions.

Contrails are composed when hot, humid air from the engines condenses into ice crystals in the cold air, the National Weather Service says. While they often fade quickly, especially in dry weather, their appearance and durability can change depending on the conditions the plane flew through, including altitude, temperature, humidity, sunlight, wind speed, etc.

Sometimes, in saturated, high-humidity conditions, some contrails may persist for hours and spread out into cirrus clouds, or last long enough for multiple airplane paths to create a crisscross effect. This normal event has been singled out by conspiracy theorists as evidence that the government, the military, or climate scientists are deliberately pumping chemicals into the atmosphere for various intended effects such as human population control, weapons testing, mind control and more.

The theory spread far enough into conspiracy circles that in 2000, the EPA teamed up with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to issue a report debunking the chemtrails theory. Other agencies, such as the U.S. Air Force, issued their own fact sheets explaining what contrails were.

“EPA is not aware of any deliberate actions to release chemical or biological agents into the atmosphere,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said.

Conspiracy theorists have pointed to such reports as evidence of collusion in the scheme.

Where did the chemtrails conspiracy come from?

In 1996, the U.S. Air Force published a report about proposed weather modification in the future. The report itself says it contains “fictional representations of future situations/scenarios,” but it triggered concerns about shadowy evil plans. The USAF later clarified that the paper was created in response to a military directive asking for future scenarios and did not reflect any plans, present or future, to modify the weather.

Since then, any reports of proposed geoengineering projects, rocket engine tests, widespread sickness, or just suspicious cloud formations bring out more accusations of chemtrails and governmental conspiracy.

Chemtrails have also been blamed for hurricanes. Most recently when Hurricane Miltion became the second major hurricane to make landfall in two weeks, conspiracy theorists claimed the Biden administration was controlling the weather to affect the election. The spread of misinformation became so prevalent that both NOAA and FEMA were forced to create fact-checking webpages.

Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene helped spread the rumor in an X post that has been seen 44 million times.

“Yes they can control the weather,” she said. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” She posted a follow-up asking if Americans agreed to their weather being modified.

Greene was ridiculed, with President Joe Biden calling the claim “stupid” and U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Miami Republican, saying “Humans can’t create or control hurricanes. Anyone who thinks they can, needs to have their head examined.”

But the claim gained traction. Rolling Stone reported that meteorologists were getting death threats.

What would SB 36 do?

SB 36, Weather Modification Activities, does the following:

• Repeals 11 Florida statutes defining and regulating weather modification in the state
• Prohibits “the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight”
• Changes the second-degree misdemeanor for anyone attempting weather modification without a state license to anyone attempting it at all, and adds a fine up to $10,000 per violation
• Bans all study, research or experimentation in the field of weather modification

Tennessee passed a similar law this year, with several legislators referring to fears from the chemtrails conspiracy.

Can we manipulate the weather?

On a small scale, yes.

The idea of cloud seeding, where substances such as silver iodide or dry ice are released into the atmosphere to increase rain or snow, mitigate hail or disperse fog, has been around since 1891 and was first put into practice in 1946. But nothing on a large scale has been found to work.

“No technology exists that can create, destroy, modify, strengthen or steer hurricanes in any way, shape or form,” NOAA said.

There was an attempt, starting in the 1960s, by the U.S. military to modify hurricanes in the Atlantic basin, called Project STORMFURY. The project was unsuccessful and was discontinued, NOAA said.

In February, researchers proposed dehydrating the atmosphere by seeding the upper atmosphere with small particles known as ice nuclei to slow climate change. But other scientists have been skeptical, and one of the researchers admitted, “we don’t have a plan or the technology to do this.”

Who is Ileana Garcia?

Garcia, a Miami native, founded Latinas for Trump in 2016 and became his campaign’s communications director for Latino outreach. During his first term, she became the first Hispanic female deputy press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Her political career in Florida started in 2020 under a cloud after she won her seat in District 37 by 32 votes against the Democratic incumbent. A third candidate, Alex Rodriguez, later pleaded guilty to running as a “ghost candidate,” a no-party affiliation candidate paid to run in a tight race to draw votes away from another candidate.

This year, Garcia proposed a bill to use $5 million in state funds to pay for Trump’s growing legal fees stemming from his multiple court cases over conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, the handling of classified documents, racketeering, and falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to an adult film star.

She later withdrew the bill after Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled he did not support it.

(This story was updated with new information.)