Donald Trump asked about 'nuking hurricanes' to protect US - report

The idea has been around for decades but weather scientists have labelled it a myth and potentially disastrous.

Image: Experts have said dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane would spread radioactive fallout

Donald Trump has reportedly asked about the possibility of using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes hitting the US.
The US president has "suggested multiple times" to national security and Homeland Security officials that they explore the idea, according to US news site Axios.

Mr Trump is said to have asked "why don't we nuke them?" during a hurricane briefing at the White House in the first year or so of his presidency.
One source, who was reportedly at the meeting, told the site the president had suggested dropping a bomb "inside the eye of the hurricane" to disrupt the storms as they form off the coast of Africa.

Image: Mr Trump is said to have asked his advisers to look into the theory

The president raised the idea again - according to a 2017 National Security Council memo cited by Axios.

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The White House told the site that its doesn't comment on private discussions that may have taken place between the president and his advisers.

The idea that nuclear weapons could disrupt the path of storms has been around since the 1960s, but weather scientists have poured cold water on it.
"Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems," said the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Nuclear fallout issues aside, the NOAA said that "focusing even half of the energy [of a nuclear bomb] on a spot in the middle of a remote ocean would still be formidable".
LiveScience says there is also the possibility it could "just add to the storm's heat supply, making it even stronger".