Hurricane Helene was not caused by the HAARP research facility

Context

False claims have circulated online stating Hurricane Helene was caused by HAARP, or High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, a research facility in Alaska tied to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

One such claim (archived here) has reached 1.4 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter. The claim has also circulated on TikTok (example archived here).

No evidence supports the claim that HAARP is responsible for the storm. Helene was formed from a cluster of storms, coalesced into a hurricane, and grew in intensity due to warm waters in the Mexican Gulf. 

Furthermore, HAARP cannot affect the weather or cause natural disasters. Versions of this claim circulate whenever a major environmental disaster occurs, a phenomenon Logically Facts has previously covered.  

What caused Hurricane Helene?

Helene made landfall in the U.S. state of Florida on September 26, with winds reaching 140 mph. The storm has claimed at least 160 lives, while hundreds of other people remain missing. It also caused destruction across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, with hundreds of roads, buildings, homes and vehicles washed away by the flooding.

Logically Facts contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the parent of the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the U.S. agency that monitors hurricanes, to clarify what caused Hurricane Helene. Howard Diamond, Ph.D., Director of Atmospheric Sciences and Modeling Division at NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory told us: "The genesis of Hurricane Helene, as is the case for any hurricane, formed on its own given the right conditions of sea surface temperature and upper atmospheric winds, and that was the case with Helene."  

The NHC confirmed that Helene had formed, initially as a tropical storm, in an advisory issued on September 24. According to a subsequent NHC advisory, the storm strengthened into a hurricane on September 25. 

Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami, told the New York Times that the rapid intensification was due to "record-to-near-record-warm ocean temperatures" and a quick change in wind heights. He said the warm water was "like high-octane jet fuel" for the storm. 

Regarding HAARP, the research facility does not have the power to create such weather events. Logically Facts spoke with HAARP Director Jessica Matthews, who told us, "The tragic loss of life and widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene serve as a solemn reminder of the immense power of natural disasters. The research equipment at the HAARP facility is not capable of generating or amplifying such events."  

The NOAA's Diamond further told us, "HAARP is a small U.S. National Science Foundation funded ionospheric research facility in Fairbanks, Alaska, and for some reason has gained an incorrect reputation on parts of the internet as being part of some nefarious global weather modification effort. Simply put, it is not, and HAARP had absolutely no connection to the formation of Hurricane Helene, the formation of any other hurricane, or the genesis of any other natural weather event for that matter."

Logically Facts has previously checked multiple false claims regarding HAARP, including the claim it can be used to "accelerate the climate agenda using weather manipulations." HAARP was also falsely blamed for the Aurora lights over the U.K. in May, the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, the 2023 floods in Libya, and 2023 wildfires in Greece.

The verdict

Given that HAARP cannot create hurricanes, and Hurricane Helene, like all other hurricanes, formed as a result of sea surface temperature and upper atmospheric winds, we have marked this claim as false.