Was Hurricane Milton Renamed to 'Millicent' for Transgender Consciousness Month?

In October 2024, as Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a viral rumor claimed it had been renamed to “Hurricane Millicent.” In keeping with a set of viral screenshots, the World Meteorological Group (WMO) made the change in recognition of Transgender Consciousness Month.

A post on X shared two screenshots, one purportedly from the WMO’s webpage and the opposite apparently from CNN. The WMO article headline acknowledged, “WMO Renames Hurricane Milton to Millicent in Recognition of Transgender Consciousness Month.” The CNN headline acknowledged, “Identical risk, completely different identify: Floridians react to Hurricane ‘Millicent’.”

The above screenshots weren’t actual. Hurricane Milton had not been renamed, whether or not as listed on the WMO web site, in references within the information media, or in references by the U.S. government. We additionally discovered no proof the identify had been modified in any manner in honor of Transgender Consciousness Month. As such, we charge this declare as pretend.

The above put up raised our suspicions as a result of the 2 screenshots weren’t accompanied by hyperlinks to any articles from the web sites.  

We looked for examples of the 2 headlines and “Hurricane Millicent” on Google and located nothing. The WMO web site had no article claiming the above. On Oct. 9, 2024, WMO published an article with the headline, “Hurricane Milton threatens destruction in Florida.” There have been no different related articles on their web site about Hurricane Milton or “Millicent.”

We additionally checked out CNN’s coverage of the hurricane on Oct. 9, 2024, and located no article with such a headline.

The Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) additionally refers to the storms as “Hurricane Milton,” with no reference to a reputation change wherever on its web site.

Lastly, we must always notice October isn’t Transgender Consciousness Month. In keeping with LGBTQ+ rights group GLAAD, Transgender Consciousness Week takes place between Nov. 13 and Nov. 19, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place on Nov. 20.

Around 3 million folks misplaced energy and not less than 5 folks had died on account of Hurricane Milton, as of this writing. The hurricane was classified as a “harmful Class 3” when it made landfall and brought on widespread injury throughout the state. 

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