The White House has credited Donald Trump with preventing extreme weather.
The president’s communications team lavished him with praise on Saturday night after influencer Chris Martz amplified reports that no hurricanes had formed in the Atlantic Ocean as of Sept. 12.
“No hurricanes have formed in the North Atlantic Ocean so far this year.
This is the FIRST time on record in the satellite era (since 1966) that we have made it to September 12th without at least one Atlantic hurricane yet in the calendar year,” wrote Martz, who identifies as a meteorologist who is “politically incorrect.”
“This is also the first time since at least 1941 that this has happened. Year-to-date ACE is lowest since 1941 as well. If we get through September 21st without any hurricane formations, it will be the first time since 1914 (there were none that season),” he continued. “Can we get there? Nine days to go. The NHC thinks we will notch at least seven more. The race is on.”
In response, the White House wrote: “Thank you, President Trump!”
In actuality, there is no evidence Trump has anything to do with the Atlantic’s unusually quiet hurricane season.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding the statement.
The record-setting stretch of calm is driven by El Niño, a consequential climate pattern in which surface winds weaken and shift direction, strangling tropical storms before they intensify into hurricanes, according to NOAA.
“I don’t think anyone really foresaw it being this quiet,” Brian McNoldy, a hurricane expert at the University of Miami, told PBS. “This is quite remarkable.”
While the Trump administration may be celebrating the lack of hurricanes this year, the country has still seen extreme weather. Two weeks ago, tropical storms in Texas triggered flooding and emergency rescues.
And the Trump administration has notably come under fire for diverting Federal Emergency Management Funds to immigration operations, harming the government’s response to natural disasters. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gutted FEMA, with a mandate to dismantle the agency entirely, before she was ousted and several of her policies were reversed.
Though, the Trump administration is still pushing to withhold disaster grants from cities that don’t comply with its rejection of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
