Firing a nuke at a hurricane?

Story time.

I went to a tour of Fermilab, a particle accelerator in Batavia, IL. It started with someone explaining to the room of about twenty people about the general idea of how a particle accelerators work, and what they help us find out. When it came time for question, they first one was from a farmer looking guy sitting in the front row, who said:

If those protrons and electrons are so powerful, how come we can't shoot 'em into tornadoes and hurricanes and stop 'em??

The pause from the speaker before responding was palpable. Sadly, I don't remember the response, because this was in 1982.