The White House has faced mockery after implying that Donald Trump prevented hurricanes from developing. The Atlantic has been unusually calm this hurricane season.
An Unusually Calm Atlantic Season
To date, no hurricanes have developed this year and none are expected to form for at least another week, despite this typically being the season’s peak period, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Just five relatively minor and short-lived tropical storms have emerged this season. On Saturday, the White House attributed the absence of hurricanes to Trump.
White House Rapid Response Post Draws Ridicule
“Thank you, President Trump!” The official Rapid Response 47 account posted on X while sharing content about the lack of Atlantic hurricanes.
The White House offered no explanation regarding how Trump had supposedly stopped hurricanes from forming. The post quickly drew widespread ridicule.
“Thanking a politician for the weather is like thanking your landlord for the sunrise,” one individual remarked. “Dawg we are supposed to thank Trump for no hurricanes? This is North Korea levels of bulls—,” a second observed.
“Ain’t no way republicans are thanking Trump for controlling weather like what’s the world gotten into,” a third stated. “What in the Kim Jong-Donald is this s–t?” a fourth questioned.
“The absurdity of this post is absolutely off the charts. You’ve become a parody account that’s suppose to be Rapid Response to America. This is Bats— crazy!” another proclaimed.
El Niño, Not Presidential Intervention
The Atlantic has experienced an unusually calm hurricane season, attributed by experts to a powerful El Niño system that suppresses storm development — not due to any presidential intervention.
“It’s really staggering, just how inhospitable the Atlantic is to anything that could form a tropical cyclone right now,” said Kristen Corbosiero, a University at Albany atmospheric science professor. “Anything that tries to form is just getting this triple whammy” of winds that decapitate a storm, dry air that starves it and downward pushing winds that basically stomp it, she explained.
These three forces are widely recognized as characteristic effects of El Niño — the natural, temporary warming of sections of the equatorial Pacific that disrupts and influences weather patterns globally, according to five experts who spoke with The Associated Press.
“It’s just hammering the Atlantic. It’s just impressive,” Klotzbach said. “We haven’t even had anything really even close to a hurricane.”
Experts Warn Against Complacency
Nevertheless, experts are cautioning the public against becoming complacent, emphasizing that even during an El Niño year, a single storm has the potential to cause catastrophic devastation.
Multiple experts referenced 1992 as a stark reminder — a season that started late but proved disastrous with the arrival of the destructive Hurricane Andrew.
