Fact Check: Eerie video of strange cloud formation is from 2021, NOT caused by Hurricane Ian
India Today
A video of a wave-shaped cloud formation went viral after Hurricane Ian made landfall in US' Florida. However, the video is from 2021 and is not related to the storm.
An other-worldly video that’s being shared widely on social media shows a wave-shaped cloud formation in the sky near a beach. The almost apocalyptic clip allegedly shows the effects of hurricane Ian in Florida, US.
Ian hit Florida’s southwest coast on September 28 and has led to at least 21 deaths according to reports. Per NBC News, Ian strengthened back into a hurricane after being downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved toward South Carolina's coast.
The viral video of the clouds has garnered a wide variety of reactions from people. While some expressed fear, others shrugged it off as CGI.
A Twitter user wrote alongside the video, “This is the eye of Hurricane Ián, Florida. #HurricanIan.”
AFWA found that the viral video is not recent at all. It shows a cloud formation that was seen near Florida’s Fort Walton Beach in June 2021.
In the responses to one of the tweets sharing the video, we came across a comment where a person had quote-tweeted Ricky Forbes, the creator and star of the reality TV show “Tornado Hunters”. Forbes shared a similar video on July 8, 2021. He described this phenomenon as an Asperitas cloud formation, off the coast of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He credited the video to someone called Andrew Farnam.
Upon searching, we found that Andrew Ferman, a resident of Florida, had shared the video on June 22, 2021, writing, “O’l Mother Nature was on a wild one this morning! Edit post: I never thought this would reach out to so many people! This was in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.”
