Weather forecasters are receiving an increasing number of death threats and abuse from conspiracy theorists over their weekly weather outlook.
Scientists working for AEMET, the national weather agency for Spain, have seen an exceedingly high number of rude comments and threatening messages over the last few months.
Those messages, which come in the form of social media posts, graffiti sprayed on buildings, letters and even phone calls, have led to an AEMET representative admitting the threats had "always happened".
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From being labelled "murderers" to "criminals", some members of the weather team were chillingly told people were "watching" their every move, with government intervention soon following.
Teresa Ribera, Spain's minister for ecological transition, posted a video in support of the weather company, saying: "Lying, giving wings to conspiracy and fear, insulting … It is time to say enough."
But the recent uptick in abuse to Spanish scientists is not exclusive to the European country, with Australia and the United States also claiming they receive torrents of abuse from conspiracy theorists.
A simple update on the rain in Spain, or lack thereof, from one weather reporter led to a wave of online mistreatment.
Receiving hundreds of responses for one tweet which said the "rain skips Spain", Isabel Moreno was left dealing with "one of the hardest experiences".
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Speaking to CNN, she said: "It was one of the hardest experiences in social media in my life. I received HUNDREDS of responses to an (apparently) inoffensive tweet."
One of the tweets posted to her read: "Do not take us for idiots."
Even the UK is dealing with its fair share of conspiracy theorists after a first-ever red warning was given for a recent heatwave, with the Met Office saying they were just reporting it was "really hot".
They were accused of changing the colour palette of the weather map, to which Oliver Claydon, a communications officer at the Met Office, said: "We hadn’t, it was just really hot."
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