Weather has conspiracy theorists strung out

[Rivergirl]

Weather has conspiracy theorists strung out STEPHEN CAUCHI
June 6, 2010

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on its debut launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida . Photo: Reuters
INEXPLICABLY odd images on Bureau of Meteorology radar. Cyclones off the Australian coast and the most intense storm to hit Melbourne in living memory. A controversial US military facility in Alaska suspected of research into weather control …

It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi conspiracy thriller. In the past five months, the Bureau of Meteorology's weather radar has indeed recorded a number of very strange patterns - rings, loops, starbursts - at a number of places, including Melbourne, Broome and central Queensland, suggestive of some sort of massive interference.

In that time, cyclones Olga and Ului have lashed Queensland, and Melbourne was bombarded with hailstones in one of the most intense and costly storms in the city's history.

And, yes, there is a US Air Force research program, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), based at Gakona, Alaska, that has attracted attention from conspiracy theorists for its high-powered transmitters and powerful radars.

So, since the start of the year, websites and blogs that specialise in pseudo-science and conspiracy - such as the one run by British crop-circle ''investigator'' Colin Andrews - have leapt on the notion that there could be a connection between the unusual radar patterns, the odd weather and HAARP.

''My website is receiving many thousands of visitors who are asking for an explanation for these (radar) patterns,'' wrote Mr Andrews on his website. ''World class scientists have also contacted me … these scientists have expressed the opinion that the top-secret joint program between the US, UK, Canada and Australian governments, called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), is behind the interference. They believe the program is involved in weather modification.''

And there's more. ''A much bigger international story is waiting in the wings about what, or who, caused the 1000-year super drought to turn into the 100-year super storm over Melbourne on Friday, March 5.''

It's not the first time HAARP has come under scrutiny. Over the years, it's been blamed for floods, droughts, the Haiti earthquake, power outages and aircraft disasters.

But the Bureau of Meteorology, which has received numerous inquiries about the radar anomalies, including from Mr Andrews, isn't impressed.

And for sceptics, it's all too silly for words. HAARP is exactly what it professes to be, a facility researching Earth's upper atmosphere, and the radar images, while intriguing, aren't showing the results of a top-secret weather-control experiment.

According to a statement from the bureau to The Sunday Age, ''reflectors such as physical obstructions, sea waves, insects and birds and atmospheric effects'', as well as ''interference from local transmission sources'', are responsible for the unusual images.

The executive officer of Australian Skeptics, Tim Mendham, pointed out that Mr Andrews ''believes in every conspiracy going - [end of the world in] 2012, crop circles, everything''.

Mr Mendham said Mr Andrews, and others of his ilk, had no evidence to support their theories but it was no use pointing this out.''There's no way of arguing with someone who claims it's a cover-up,'' he said. ''No matter how much scientific evidence you give them, they can't give up. If someone gives them evidence disproving their theory they move sideways.''

The Sunday Age tried to contact Mr Andrews, who is based in the US, but there was no reply. That could be because, according to his website, he was in Oregon for last weekend's 11th annual UFO Festival.

[Dc449]

I love conspiracy theories, there is alot we don't know about out planter. I'm going to do some research on HAARP

[FuManchu]

What is going to happen to the entire conspiracy theorists come 2012 and nothing happens :lol:
Y-20-12? :lol:

An entire industry is going to fall apart and they will have to start a new story up to live their lives by.