Fact Check: Did The Simpsons predict Hurricane Milton? Viral social media post debunked

Fans of The Simpsons have claimed that the animated series foresaw Florida's Hurricane Milton. The town of Springfield allegedly plunged into turmoil in the 1996 episode of the show, Hurricane Neddy, as the characters get ready for the arrival of a powerful hurricane.

Claiming the same, on October 9, X user @matttttt187 uploaded a video that was allegedly from the show. The caption of the video read:

"Did The Simpsons Warn Us About Hurricane Milton and The Hidden Dangers That Are To Come?"

However, another X page called @LeadStoriesCom took to the platform to debunk the entire news. The caption of the post, which was uploaded on October 15, on X, read:

"Fact Check: FAKE Scene From 'The Simpsons' Shows Depiction Of Hurricane Milton -- Authentic Scene Shows' Hurricane Barbara'."

Furthermore, as per the October 14 report on their website, it's not true. The words "Hurricane Milton," a hurricane that made landfall in October 2024 in Florida, was edited into the viral clip from the episode.

The edited clip featured images of what appeared to be an actual Simpsons episode, including a scene in which the name of the hurricane appeared on the screen of a newscast.

However, the storm in the actual episode was Hurricane Barbara.

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The Simpsons episode showed a fictional storm, not Hurricane Milton

The show didn't predict the hurricane (Image via Disney+ Hotstar)

Similar claims have resurfaced on Facebook, with several users alleging the same. On October 19, Facebook user Juan Bergman uploaded a reel with a clip from the show, claiming that the cartoon indeed predicted the arrival of Hurricane Milton.

Additionally, on October 14, Facebook user Adcave uploaded a collage of the actual hurricane and The Simpsons' episode showing the storm and wrote:

"The Simpsons have done it again! The super popular show is known for its accurate predictions and this time according to fans, the sitcom has forecasted Hurricane Milton's occurrence in one of its episodes from 1996. How does it do it?"

On October 10, user Tallman Rosario proposed a similar theory on the platform by comparing two separate videos, one from the actual hurricane and one from the particular episode of the show.

All these claims probably emerged from the fact that the storm shown in the show's December 29, 1996 episode looks a lot like the actual Hurricane Milton that hit Florida earlier this month, causing destruction throughout the state and igniting 36 tornadoes.

As shown in the season 8, episode 8 of the show, The Simpsons family panicked after a hurricane warning. The hurricane then resulted in floodwaters that swept through the streets and reached the second floors of houses as people attempted to flee in rafts.

Furthermore, in the episode, even though the majority of the people departed the area when the authorities issued evacuation orders, officials verified the deaths of four individuals in the Simpsons episode.

Nevertheless, Hurricane Milton was quite similar to this, forcing Floridians to evacuate their houses while rescue crews swarmed into the region to save stranded citizens.

As per Times Now News' October 18 report, Make Your Day's TikTok video, which garnered over 40,000 likes and around 1.6 million views as of writing, was the first to draw the parallels between the show's episode and the actual incident.

Since then, a number of posts have surfaced that draw attention to the similarities between the Hurricane Neddy event and the recent Hurricane Milton.

Fans also pointed to previous episodes that hinted at an increase in hurricanes in Florida, such as one from 2013, in which a storm hit Saint Lucie County, leaving the protagonists fighting for their lives as floodwaters wrecked their homes.

However, Check Your Facts claimed in their October 15 article that all these claims are false and that the widely circulated video has been edited. The clip from an old episode of The Simpsons shows an completely different, fictional cyclone.