5/5/2000: The Ultimate Disaster
Book Warns the 5/5/2000 Planetary Alignment Will Bring an Ice Disaster. Planets Align; Ice Stays Put
Richard Noone's '5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate Disaster' pinned doom on a conjunction of the five visible planets. It came at 4:08 a.m. ET and the world 'remained remarkably calm'.
What was claimed (paraphrase)
Powerful tidal forces from the planetary alignment would bring an awful end to the world as we know it. (Bob Park's summary of the book.)
— Richard Noone, author of '5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate Disaster' · due May 5, 2000
The conjunction happened on schedule at 4:08 a.m. ET. The world as we know it carried on.
The Story
Physicist Bob Park wrote on the day: 'The world remained remarkably calm when the dreaded conjunction of the five visible planets occurred at 4:08 a.m. ET this morning.'
Astronomers pointed out that the planets' tidal pull on Earth is tiny compared with the Moon's. The book's publication year isn't confirmed in the sources opened.
The Los Angeles Times (January 10, 2000) gives the book as '5/5/2000: Ice: The Ultimate Disaster' (Crown, 1997) and summarises the claim: an ice buildup at the South Pole would upset Earth's axis and send 'trillions of tons' of ice into the oceans, which 'will flood the planet and destroy all known forms of life.'
UCLA astronomer Edward L. Wright: 'The only people who will be hurt by the alignment on May 5, 2000, are people who are foolish enough to spend their money on books discussing it.'
Receipts
- What's New - Robert L. Park (May 5, 2000)accessed 2026-09-29
- The Planetary Alignment of May 2000 - Bad Astronomyaccessed 2026-09-29
- So, predictions of Y2K global ruin didn't pan out... - Los Angeles Times (January 10, 2000)accessed 2026-10-09
As of Oct 9, 2026
since it didn't happen
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