Did the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program of the University of Alaska (HAARP) cause recent destructive storms in Northern Croatia? No, that's not true: HAARP's technology cannot influence or change the weather.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on July 19, 2023, under the title (translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff) "Today's HAARP which ravaged Zagreb ⚡️. If this is natural then I am Tito's grandson 🤷 ."
Josip Broz Tito was the former president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The claim began (translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff):
Under the guise of global warming, evildoers around the world are causing various weather disasters with the help of HAARP and geo-engineering⚡️ But that's what we need when people are ordinary cowards and let it jump on their heads and make fools of them🤷 #zagreb #nevrijeme #hrvatska #haarp
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jul 26 20:43:07 2023 UTC)
On July 18 and July 19, 2023, powerful storms hit the Balkans after a prolonged heat wave. In Croatia, the storms led to fatalities, damaged property and caused flash flooding.
Storms are common after a heat wave when warm air and cold air mix. In extreme cases, some of these storms develop into a super cell.
The European Union's Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) wrote a report about the specific storms that hit the Balkans after developing naturally in the Po Valley in Italy when warm air and cold air mixed:
The storm on 19 July initially hit Slovenia, causing large wind-related damage. Then, when passing over Croatia, became more violent, exhibiting supercell characteristics, leaving a swath of destruction.
HAARP has previously been blamed elsewhere for being responsible for extreme weather events and there are several conspiracy theories about this.
In February 2023, Lead Stories debunked another claim about HAARP technology being able to cause extreme weather. Lead Stories spoke to HAARP Program Manager Jessica Matthews who said:
The research equipment at the HAARP site cannot create or amplify natural disasters.
As the EUMETSAT report states, the storm was:
Possibly, the strongest storm on the record in Zagreb.
