Florida airports start reporting banned ‘weather modification’ aircraft per chemtrails ban
- A new Florida law bans geoengineering and weather modification activities intended to combat climate change.
- Two Florida airports reported closures to aircraft with “weather modification or geoengineering equipment” in compliance with the law.
- The legislation is linked to the debunked “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, which claims airplanes spread toxic chemicals.
- Releasing chemicals to affect temperature, weather, or sunlight is now a third-degree felony in Florida.
Florida airports have started reporting aircraft with “weather modification or geoengineering equipment” as required by a new law this year that bans practices that some conspiracy theorists claim spread toxic chemicals on an unsuspecting populace through the white trails in the sky left by airplanes.
On Oct. 8, both Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) and Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) issued airport closure releases, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airspace System Status page, saying the facilities were closed to geoengineering and weather modification aircraft without prior permission of at least 24 hours at PBI and 48 hours at Daytona.
The law banning such activities went into effect on July 1. Airports were ordered to begin reporting the existence, takeoff, refueling or landing of any such aircraft monthly starting Oct. 1.
Neither airport has said if any specific aircraft or facilities triggered the closure notices and regular service was not affected. According to Daytona Beach International Airport Director of Aviation & Economic Resources Cyrus Callum, the notice was to tell operators they were not permitted to land without prior permission if they had weather modification technology onboard.
Did Florida ban chemtrails?
The word doesn’t appear in the legislation, but it did come up in multiple discussions of the bill and in social media posts shared by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami. Tennessee passed a similar law last year, with several legislators referring to fears from the long-running and debunked chemtrails conspiracy.
“Chemtrails,” as described by a Harvard University report, is a conspiracy theory buzzword that refers to types of contrails, the white, line-shaped clouds sometimes visible behind planes.
They happen 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. Some contrails may persist for hours in saturated, high-humidity conditions and spread out into cirrus clouds or last long enough for multiple airplane paths to create a crisscross effect.
Conspiracy theorists have singled out this normal event as evidence that the government, the military, or climate scientists are deliberately pumping chemicals into the atmosphere for various schemes, up to and including creating hurricanes on command.
“The purpose of this bill is to separate fact from fiction,” Garcia said, and she stressed that the bill was intended to look into the theories in response to numerous requests from constituents and potentially disprove them.
On June 20, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the controversial bill banning “geoengineering and weather modification activities” and making the release of chemicals in the atmosphere “for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight” a third-degree felony with jail terms up to five years and fines up to $100,000. The bill also establishes a hotline for residents to report suspected violations.
Government agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Air Force, FEMA and more, have repeatedly denied that nefarious weather modification via chemtrails is a thing.
Where did the chemtrails conspiracy come from?
In 1996, the U.S. Air Force published a reporton proposed weather modification in response to a military directive requesting future scenarios. The report itself says it contains “fictional representations of future situations/scenarios,” but it triggered concerns about shadowy evil plans for human population control, weapons testing, mind control and more.
The USAF later clarified that the paper did not reflect any plans or abilities, 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, despite multiple reports to the contrary.
Conspiracy theorists have cited such reports as further evidence of widespread collusion.
What is geoengineering?
Geoengineering, also called climate engineering or climate intervention, refers to deliberate large-scale interventions intended to counteract human-caused climate change through carbon dioxide removal or by deflecting some portion of the sun’s rays away from Earth.
A NOAA report from last year listed several proposed Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) methods for reducing the amount of solar radiation, including firing small reflective aerosols into the air to increase the reflectivity of the stratosphere or low-lying clouds, thinning cirrus clouds, or even putting large mirrors in space.
However, none have progressed past the research stage as scientists study the potential risks and negative consequences.
Can humans manipulate the weather?
On a very small scale, yes.
Cloud seeding, where substances such as silver iodide or dry ice are released or fired into the atmosphere to increase rain or snow, mitigate hail or disperse fog, has been happening since 1946. But nothing on a large scale has been found to work.
There was an attempt, starting in the 1960s, by the U.S. military to modify hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin, known as Project STORMFURY. The project was unsuccessful and was discontinued, NOAA said.
“No technology exists that can create, destroy, modify, strengthen or steer hurricanes in any way, shape or form,” NOAA said.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
