FACT CHECK: Video Showing Storm Cloud Is From 2018, Not Recent

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

A video shared on X claims to show a storm cloud from January 2024.

Verdict: Misleading

The video is from August 2018, not January 2024.

Fact Check:

Social media users are sharing a video of an ominous cloud over a parking lot, claiming it was taken last month. One social media user wrote, “Illinois, US – Storm captured on camera last month. More perfectly normal seasonal weather right.”

However, through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the video is nearly six years old. The video was shared on YouTube in August 2018 with the title “Craziest storm cloud of 2018.”

“Ominous shelf cloud in Anna, IL on August 7, 2018 courtesy of Maranda Marie Benefield,” reads part of the the video description. (RELATED: Houthi Rebels Claim To Hit U.S. Warship In Red Sea)

Maranda Marie Benefield, the person who took the video, also shared it on Facebook in August 2018. Benefield wrote, “The sky was insane looking earlier. The temperature dropped rapidly and the wind picked up and within minutes it blew right over us.”

Social media users often take old videos and share them as if they show events that have occurred recently. Check Your Fact recently debunked a video claiming to show a ship struck by a Houthi missile sinking in the Red Sea.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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