AI Images For Weather Disasters Now Prevailant, Risks Misinformation And Misrepresenting Victims' Needs

An AI image of Nashville's recent
ice storm. It doesn't look like this
and this image has been used to
"show" what it's like in the ice
storm south. Fake images like
this can foster mistrust in 
disaster news, and potentially
direct aid to the wrong places. 

 Each big disaster has just an iconic image or two, ones that capture the breadth and emotion and tragedy of the event. 

The big Lost Angeles wildfires in January, 2025 has the vintage blue Volkswagen bus gleaming seemingly unscathed in a large, completely leveled, blackened neighborhood. Or the resort towns in western North Carolina wiped out by Hurricane Helene. Or, here in Vermont, downtown Montpelier inundated by the summer floods of 2023. 

Now, we have that horrible ice storm in the south. I've seen so many dramatic photos and videos of collapsed trees, tangled, destroyed electrical systems, damaged houses and highways that resemble miles long skating rinks, 

But the photos that arguably circulating the most on social media do not at all capture the real tragedy, scariness and power of the ice storm. 

The photos I see the most are AI generated. Definitely not the real deal. 

One account on Facebook called Meanwhile in Delco posts a lot of AI generated images of bad weather, and really went to town with the southern Ice Storm. Sometimes images from this account and others get a community note explaining that it's a fake image. 

But most of the time, when I see the AI images the comments are all, "OMG the destruction!" and "Pray for Nashville."

I'm 100 percent in favor of praying for Nashville and anybody else affected by the winter storm. However, I don't think AI helps. 

One person posted this genuinely thoughtful comment under one of Delco's  AI-generated Nashville ice storm images. She wrote: "For those saying this is AI... Does it really matter since this is scary close to what Nashville and the surrounding areas are surviving through the week? 

My answer is a respectful yes. It does matter. 

DANGERS OF AI PICS

Fake images breed distrust.  If it gets hard to tell which images of a disaster are fake and which are real, you start to lose trust in everything. Some people might wonder if the whole ice storm disaster is fake. AI, used incorrectly, can hurt, rather than help recovery efforts after disasters.

I'm picking on Meanwhile in Delco, but that Facebook account holder doesn't' seem intent on causing harm. The text parts of their posts seem accurate when they discuss power outages, recovery efforts or storms elsewhere. So overall, they're probably doing a little more good than harm. Or at least they're not adding much to the chaos. I've seen a LOT worse on Facebook.

But other people on social media can use AI to be misleading. Here's a theoretical: The winter storm was huge and caused misery and danger really from New Mexico to Maine, right?

I can envision efforts to use AI to exaggerate the effects of a particular storm in one area, while saying other areas that were hit hard are fine. For example, somebody could post AI images of New Orleans just obliterated by an ice storm, even though they're fine, while posting AI images of Nashville looking just ducky.  

Imagine this was being done by a crook who wants to use the sympathy of social media viewers to steer donations toward New Orleans (really the crook's pocket) and away from Nashville, which really needs the help. 

I know in the real world under my scenario, Nashville would still be getting help. But a little bit of that potential aid could get diverted from Nashville, or other areas of the South that were blasted by the ice storm. And the crook with the AI account would pocket the money.

My dream is to require all AI images to clearly state they are in fact AI.  I'd like to see that rule in social media terms and conditions. But, their algorithms are so bad that such a rule would probably ban real, unadulterated photos, or legitimate AI art that is not pretending to be news.

So yea, a solution to this isn't easy. 

Don't get me wrong. There's a place for AI on social media and elsewhere. It can be entertaining, even illuminating at times. 

But if there's some weather event or disaster somewhere, I, and I think most people, want to know what really happened. Not just some AI representation that at best is a guess, and at worst, a scam. 

 

The Great Reese Witherspoon Snow Crisis Of '24 Explained

Reese Witherspoon enjoying her
"Snow Salt Chococcino"
made with snow from her back
yard. This precipitated a
crisis/uproar for some reason. 

 Having lived in Vermont my entire life so far, I can't believe the controversy that erupted over the past few days involving Reese Witherspoon.     

That sounds like a nonsensical sentence, but hear me out. 

A few days ago, Witherspoon made a nice little snow treat for herself and she shared the recipe on TikTok. One ingredient was snow she collected from her Nashville, Tennessee property during the recent cold snap. She created sort of a fancy sugar on snow, a version perhaps a little chichi for us Green Mountain Boys and Girls, but still intriguing. 

Anyway, she got immediate blowback from hordes of very wimpy, horrified fans. A typical response: 

"No no no, snow is not made to eat.....u can get seriously sick."

Um, probably not.

This thing has really blown up with TV talk shows, Facebook, X, TikTok you name it earnestly debating Witherspoon and her snow drink/dessert concoction. If space aliens came to Earth this week, they'd think the Witherspoon snow drink situation was the biggest crisis facing the planet ever.

As a hale and healthy 61 year old, I'm firmly in Camp Witherspoon.  I've eaten way more sugar on snow in my lifetime than anyone should admit. Sure, sometimes it was on shaved ice, but most of the time, I ate real snow - the stuff that falls from the sky in the winter - as part of my sugar on snow. 

(For the uninitiated, sugar on snow is packed snow with heated maple syrup drizzled onto it. You end up with a delicious taffy-like dessert).

Also, as a kid, when I was out sledding or building snowmen or something and I got thirsty, I'd just grab a handful of snow and eat it. 

Snow is safe. Unless you are exceedingly stupid. 

You have to use common sense, of course. How many times have you heard "Don't eat the yellow snow"?  Also most people understand that the gross stuff the snow plow piles on the side of the road is not for consumption, either.

And frankly, I probably wouldn't trust snow that has been sitting on the ground in Central Park in New York City for a week. Gawd knows what's in that. 

For the record, the Washington Post and others have weighed in on the Great Reese Witherspoon Snow Crisis Of '24. 

As the Post explains, there probably is trace amounts of pollutants in falling snow, but certainly not enough to harm you. Unless perhaps if you ate buckets of snow daily through decades of Vermont winters. 

 If you're really worried about safety, eat the snow that lands more than two hours into the storm.

When snow begins to fall, it scrubs the atmosphere of pollutants, so the first inch or two has slightly higher amounts of contaminants in it. But those first couple of inches aren't exactly Love Canal. 

To her credit, Witherspoon pushed back against her critics, saying she (like me!) drank tap water as a kid and drank water directly out of garden hoses. And we're fine.

Witherspoon gathered up some snow, melted it down in a glass container and showed her followers that the resulting water from the melted snow looked nice and clear. 

Besides, she asked, how the hell do you filter snow?

Yeah, good question. 

For the record, here's how to make Witherspoon's "snow salt chococinno"

Gather fresh, clean snow from the yard and put the snow in a mug. Drizzle the snow with salted caramel and chocolate syrup, then pour in some cold brew coffee.  It does look good, judging from the videos. 

Witherspoon started a movement.  Do you have any snow drink or dessert recipes?  

Maybe I should experiment with snow desserts and dishes.  If I get ambitious, I could become the Barefoot Contessa of gourmet snow recipes. 

 

Serious Flooding/Storms Continue In South. Here In Vermont, Active, Windy, Weather Whiplash

Severe flooding in Nashville and much of the rest of 
Tennessee as a rough spring weather pattern continues.

Dangerous weather struck parts of the nation again with tornadoes, severe flooding high winds and more as an active spring weather pattern continues to cause trouble for many of us. 

As if the United States had enough problems without continued bad weather. 

Here in Vermont, Friday's tornado notwithstanding, we don't have much super scary weather coming, but we can expect a lot of wind, some whiplash back and forth between seasons and possible a nasty April Fool's Day surprise. 

I'll get to more of the Green Mountain State outlook in a bit, but let's look at the ongoing weather issues, especially in the South. 

SOUTH HIT AGAIN

The storms yesterday and last night unleashed at least 16 tornadoes from Texas to Tennessee and unleashed the worst flooding around Nashville since the epic, catastrophic floods of May, 2010.

Nashville recorded seven inches of rain in 24 hours, flooding swaths of the city.  Emergency responders spend last night pulling dozens of people from flooded cars, homes and apartment buildings. At least one death has already been reported.

Video from Live Storms Media showed fast moving water in a Nashville area commercial area, including a Walmart that appeared to be badly flooded. 

The serious flooding extended across most of Tennessee and parts of eastern Kentucky, which was hit hard by flooding last month. 

The storms are forecast to move into the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic States today, bringing with them the risk of some tornadoes, and likely lots of severe thunderstorms with strong, damaging straight line winds. 

Meanwhile, a huge area from Washington State through the northern Rockies into the Dakotas and Nebraska are anticipating strong winds today.  Gusts will be in the 60 to 70 mph range.

Additionally, most of these areas are in drought.  Today's winds are dry and warm, so wildfires are a concern, especially in Montana and the Dakotas.

The national weather pattern looks like it will calm down somewhat after Thursday's storm departs New England, which will be a welcome break.

VERMONT IMPACTS

Today will be a pretty good stay inside kind of day as gusty winds and frequent rain showers breeze through.

This storm isn't super strong, but it's going to bring a fair amount of wind to the region, something we've had to get used to in recent week.  Winds have gusted past 30 mph in Burlington on 14 days so far this month, and it looks like we'll get a couple more.  

It's been so warm around my house in St. Albans, Vermont
that some of the daffodils are forming flower buds, the
earliest in the season I've ever seen them do that. Hope
they survive a brutal blast of winter at the end of the week!

South winds will channel up the Champlain Valley today, with gusts over 30 mph.  Downslope winds along the western slopes of the Green Mountains will gust over 40 mph. Winds are even stronger aloft, but a temperature inversion will help keep the strongest winds from reaching the surface. 

So despite somewhat above normal temperatures today, it will feel raw and stormy. The heaviest rain will probably come through along and just ahead of a cold front late this afternoon and evening.

As the departing storm strengthens over southeast Canada, northwest winds will really pick up, especially later tonight and the first half of Monday.  Wind advisories are up for much of Vermont.  In eastern Vermont, winds flowing down the slopes of the Green Mountains will pick up momentum, so gusts will be strongest there - up to 55 mph.

Expect a few issues with power lines and tree limbs down.

Colder air coming will change rain showers to snow showers overnight, and we could get a dusting here and there. Monday will be cold and blustery, with temperatures staying at or below 40 degrees.

On Tuesday and Wednesday - here goes the whiplash again - we'll abruptly turn warm again. Tuesday will be a spring beauty with sunshine and temperatures sneaking above 60 degrees again.

Wednesday will be just as warm, but showers will start to move in. 

Which introduces us to a wild card. 

A cold front will come through later Wednesday or Wednesday night, and a storm is expected to develop along the New England coast. 

Much colder air will be rushing in.  Will that cold air rush in fast enough to change the rain to snow before the air mass dries up? Or, will that coastal low bring deep moisture back inland, giving Vermont a surprise snowstorm on April Fool's Day. 

Right now, computer models seem to be all over the place between "No Big Deal" to "A Huge Dump of Snow.

What's somewhat more certain is we're likely going to see another quick shot of winter weather Friday, kind of like those brief shots we've seen all month during an otherwise warm March. And yes, we can expect another blast of strong winds from this one. 

Friday's high temperatures could end up staying entirely below freezing.  Very chilly for early April!