A Facebook post claims that President Joe Biden ‘manipulated’ and ‘controlled’ the weather to freeze deep in mid-February 2021, killing millions without power and killing at least 21 people. This statement is false. The rare winter storm was caused by an Arctic air mass.
The long message can be seen here: here and beginning: ‘3.5+ million people without power in Texas – JOE BIDEN’S DARK WINTER HAS ARRIVED.’ Later it reads: “Joe Biden’s statement about ‘Dark Winter’ was not a random thought, it was a foreshadowing of what was to come. ‘ “It’s warfare, an attack on Texas by changing the Jetstream, sowing the clouds and ultimately causing the storm that has blocked more than 4 million people.”
Reuters coverage of the winter storm in Texas can be seen here, here, here.
DARK WINTER
In the past, President Biden has used the term “dark winter” to refer to the impact of COVID-19 during the cold season, when infectious diseases such as influenza traditionally peak when bad weather drives people inside (here, youtu). .be / HCXNPIlfYyk? t = 82, here).
‘We’re about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter, and he [Trump] has no clear plan, ”Biden said during the final presidential debate on 22 October 2020 (youtu.be/yjOEHA_rXnQ?t=21, here). At a briefing in which he announced his vaccination plan (here), a few days before he revealed his inauguration, Biden said the United States had remained in a “very dark winter” as infection rates increased. has and the COVID-19 death rate in the country was nearly 400,000 (here).
Praying and health experts (here) did not use this terminology to predict the winter storm in Texas as the message suggests, but to address an increase in COVID-19 infection and death rates during the winter months before vaccines become widely available.
WHY SO COLD
The National Weather Service (NWS) said an Arctic air mass had spread southward, far beyond the areas accustomed to icy weather, with warnings for winter storms for most of the Gulf Coast region, Oklahoma and Missouri (here).
As explained by NASA’s Earth Observatory here, the cold wind from the Arctic, which set in on February 13, hit Texas particularly hard and southern areas of the state experienced colder temperatures than parts of Alaska.
The report clearly states that the storm was caused by the strong currents of air known as jet streams (change) (www.weather.gov/jetstream/jet, here).
It is true that jet streams play a role in changing the weather, but as explained by National Geographic here, the jet streams always change depending on the season and other variables. For example, “during the winter, ray currents tend to follow the height of the sun and move to the equator”. Warm temperatures around the world and polar regions do lead to ‘slower and weaker’ rays.
Scientists are still debating whether climate change (here) can deliver the cold, but giving the US president the power to direct these currents himself is not acceptable.
CLOUD SEED
Sowing clouds is an authentic process in which substances such as dry ice and silver iodide are placed in clouds. As outlined here by the North Carolina Climate Office, it is used to “intensify precipitation, dispel fog, change hurricanes, and reduce lightning and hail in thunderstorms.”
Countries, including Indonesia and China, have used cloud boring to extinguish forest fires during the dry season (here) and alleviate droughts or clear the air before major international events (here). Further reading on cloud seeding can be found at letstalkscience.ca/about-us.
There is no evidence that the scattering of clouds caused the icy temperature throughout the United States.
Weather manipulation is often associated with the conspiracy theory “chemtrails” (here), which claims that governments or other parties are engaged in a secret program to add toxic chemicals into the atmosphere from aircraft in a way that makes visible plumes in the air form”. Reuters Fact Check discussed the topic earlier here.
VERDICT
Untrue. Joe Biden’s ‘dark winter’ was a reference to the impact of COVID-19 during cold winter weather, and not a prediction of a winter storm.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.