CNN correspondent and expert fact-checker Daniel Dale turned his sights from fact-checking President Donald Trump to one of the 2020 presidential hopefuls, Marianne Williamson, on Wednesday.
Dale originally shared Williamson's Twitter post with the caption:
"Going to go ahead and call this a false claim"
However Williamson then deleted the tweet, but nothing on the internet is ever really gone.
Once notified Williamson's post was no more, Dale—and many others—shared a screen grab of it.
On Wednesday morning, Williamson declared the power of the mind can control the weather.
No, seriously.
Williamson claimed...
"Two minutes of prayer, visualization, meditation for those in the way of the storm"
...would do the trick.
If only people had known this before all the other hurricanes that slammed into the United States.
Why didn't she tell the people in the Bahamas?
Some compared Williamson's solution with another prominent politician's.
Some wondered if Jedi were involved.
Others had, well, other thoughts on the matter.
Hurricanes are caused by low pressure systems fueled by warm waters and water vapor. Hurricanes gradually die out as they move over cooler waters, which do not have the heat energy necessary to evaporate enough water vapor to fuel the hurricane.
If a hurricane crosses over land, the heat source is removed and the greater surface friction of the terrain, vegetation and even man made structures cause the hurricane's winds to rapidly decrease.
The path a hurricane takes is impacted by multiple factors including the Coriolis Effect, the westerly and trade winds, water temperature and atmospheric pressure.
Sorry Marianne, but meditation and the power of the mind have no bearing on hurricanes.
To learn more about hurricanes, NOVA: Rise of the Superstorms is available here.
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