唐纳德·特朗普总统在过去的几天里展示的地图显示飓风多里安的路径可能包括阿拉巴马。周五晚上，给出天气预报的国家机构为他的说法辩护。此外，总统在推特上发布了一段视频，显示美国有线电视新闻网气象学家解释道，在多里安路径的最初报道中，墨西哥湾的一些州可能会受到影响。
首先，美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)发表声明称多里安最初预测的路径确实包括阿拉巴马州。
一位未透露姓名的美国国家海洋和大气管理局发言人表示，8月28日至9月2日期间，“美国国家海洋和大气管理局和国家飓风中心向特朗普总统和广大公众提供的信息表明，多里安飓风带来的热带风暴可能会影响阿拉巴马州。”
美国国家海洋和大气管理局继续说，国家气象局周日早上的推特“用绝对的术语说话，这与当时最好的预测产品的概率不一致。”
大约在美国国家海洋和大气管理局宣称总统是正确的同时，特朗普在美国有线电视新闻网推特上发布了一段视频，显示一名气象学家说多里安可以穿越墨西哥湾，在墨西哥湾，南阿拉巴马州与佛罗里达州和密西西比州接壤。这段视频经过编辑后，显示美国有线电视新闻网气象学家多次重复“阿拉巴马”这个词。
飓风多里安在周日开始在巴哈马群岛登陆三次之前，增强为一场强大而致命的5级风暴。同一天，总统在推特上写道，“除了佛罗里达——南卡罗来纳州、北卡罗来纳州、佐治亚州和阿拉巴马州，很可能受到比预期更大的打击。”
特朗普发推20分钟后，阿拉巴马州伯明翰的国家气象局发推称，该州不会受到影响。
“阿拉巴马不会看到#多里安的任何影响。我们重申，阿拉巴马州不会感受到飓风#多里安的影响。伯明翰写道:“这一体系将继续向东延伸。”。
媒体开始嘲笑总统对阿拉巴马州的主张，当他开始展示多里安的规划路线的黑色地图时，这种情况就升级了，用白色勾勒出的延伸区域覆盖了整个佛罗里达半岛，然后用黑色绘制了另一个附录，修剪了阿拉巴马州东南部的一部分，就在佛罗里达狭长地带的北部。
那时，夏普盖特的标签在推特上爆炸了，每个新闻媒体都取笑总统；甚至福克斯新闻也淡化了他的地图。尽管如此，特朗普仍然坚持他的主张，即这场风暴曾经预计会影响阿拉巴马州。
周五下午，NOAA发表了支持总统的声明。
多利安在巴哈马至少有30人死亡，在美国还有三人死亡。离开巴哈马后，多利安向西迁移到佛罗里达州并在东海岸爬行，然后在周五早上登陆美国大陆，当它袭击北卡罗来纳州时成为第1类风暴。
多利安仍然在东海岸向上移动，并指出在马萨诸塞州北部的热带风暴建议。多利安星期五晚上仍然是风暴超过85英里每小时的1级风暴。
President Donald Trump spent the last couple of days showing maps that indicated Hurricane Dorian's path could include Alabama. On Friday evening, the national agency that gives weather advisories defended his claim. Moreover, the president tweeted a video showing a CNN meteorologist explaining how during the initial reports of Dorian's path that some states in the Gulf of Mexico could possibly be affected.
First, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a statement that said Dorian's original predicted path did include Alabama.
An unnamed NOAA spokesperson said that between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2, "information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama."
NOAA went on to say the National Weather Service tweet on Sunday morning "spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time."
About the same time NOAA claimed the president was correct, Trump tweeted a video from CNN that shows a meteorologist say Dorian could cross into the Gulf of Mexico, in which south Alabama borders along with Florida and Mississippi. The video is edited to show the CNN meteorologist repeat the word "Alabama" several times.
Hurricane Dorian strengthened into a powerful and deadly Category 5 storm before making landfall three separate times in the Bahamas beginning on Sunday. That same day, the president tweeted "In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated."
Twenty minutes after Trump's tweet, the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama tweeted that its state would not feel impacts.
"Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east," NWS Birmingham wrote.
Media outlets began ridiculing the president about the Alabama claim, and it escalated when he began showing maps of Dorian's projected path outlined in black, with an extended area outlined in white that engulfed the entire Florida peninsula and then another addendum drawn in black that clipped part of southeastern Alabama, just north of the Florida panhandle.
At that point, the #Sharpiegate hashtag exploded on Twitter, and every news outlet poked fun of the president; even Fox News downplayed his maps. Still, Trump stood by his claims of the storm once being projected to affect Alabama.
And on Friday afternoon, NOAA issued its statement that stood by the president.
Dorian is responsible for at least 30 deaths in the Bahamas and three more in the United States. After leaving the Bahamas, Dorian moved westward toward Florida and crept up the east coast before making landfall on the U.S. mainland Friday morning as a Category 1 storm when it hit North Carolina.
Dorian is still moving up the east coast, and states as far north as Massachusetts are under tropical storm advisories. Dorian was still a Category 1 storm Friday evening with winds greater than 85 mph.
