Home / Disasters and Accidents / Fake Typhoon Bavi Clouds Fool Millions Online
Fake Typhoon Bavi Clouds Fool Millions Online
20 Jul
Summary
- A viral video claimed to show Typhoon Bavi but depicted a local thunderstorm.
- The misleading footage was filmed over 1,500 kilometers from Bavi's actual landfall.
- The video creator confirmed it was a real storm but not related to the typhoon.
A video widely shared on social media in July 2026, purportedly showing the destructive power of Typhoon Bavi, has been revealed as misinformation. While Typhoon Bavi did make landfall in China's Zhejiang province, causing significant winds and rain and prompting evacuations, the viral clip featured different weather entirely.
The footage, which garnered millions of views across platforms like Weibo and X, showed massive storm clouds over a grassland. However, its origin was traced to Zhangbei county in Hebei province, a location over 1,500 kilometers from the typhoon's path.
The creator of the video confirmed to AFP that it depicted a thunderstorm on July 4, 2026, and was not AI-generated. They described a dramatic shift in weather, with clear skies turning overcast before rain, hail, and a sunset. Local weather warnings for thunderstorms were indeed issued for Zhangbei county on that date, corroborating the footage's authenticity as a storm event, but its connection to Typhoon Bavi was fabricated.
Authorities had evacuated nearly two million people due to Typhoon Bavi, with no immediate reports of casualties from the actual storm. The misleading video, however, spread rapidly with claims of it showing the typhoon's approach, emphasizing the challenges in combating weather-related disinformation.
