Washington DC - With federal services crippled Friday, the US government shutdown has one unexpected perk according to believers in the long-debunked "chemtrails" conspiracy theory – "clear" skies.

"Best thing about government shutdowns… no chemtrails," Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie wrote on Instagram.

"Ever since we had the government shutdown, there has been zero chemtrails. I haven't seen the sky this clear in decades," a Los Angeles-based artist says in a reel watched 1.7 million times.

The trend is symptomatic of now-normalized conspiratorial discourse about weather control in the US.

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Chemtrails is a scientifically unsound theory that mistakes condensation trails emanating from aircraft as a government program "spraying" toxic chemicals in the sky to manipulate the weather.

In 2025, state legislatures have doubled down on efforts to block all geoengineering and local weather research programs, moves that risk jeopardizing scientific innovation.

"As of October 1st, Florida's airports are closed to any weather modification activities," the state's Attorney General James Uthmeier said on X, in the latest push on the matter. But comments under the post show people questioning why they still observe trails of clouds in the sky.

Others appeal to Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis with footage of white trails, some positing the activities are being carried out by "private rogue companies and evil billionaires."

The state now allows residents to report "suspected weather modification" and "geoengineering" activities.

Holly Buck, an associate professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo, said that people "invested in this idea of atmospheric manipulation" will view current events through that same prism.

"In a sense, we are all analyzing the impact of the shutdown through the lens of things we care about," and conspiracy theorists make no exception, she told AFP.