A viral video showing a woman gathering ice from ground and surrounded by what looks like a snowfall following a heavy rain has been circulating on social media.
A Facebook user, Aare Almaroof tv2, posted the video which was allegedly recorded in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, Nigeria.
In the video, the woman excitedly referred to the scene as a winter experience while scooping what appears to be snow. Several onlookers, including passing motorists, can be seen around the area as witnesses.
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In the 59-second video, the woman could be heard saying:
See winter, tis is ice, see ice, this is ice the rain that fall here today, did you guys see look at this, do you see, see, it is coll,(Cold) so coll (Cold) look at ice, my goodness (sic).
The post was also accompanied with a caption that read:
Plateau, Jos Nigeria just experienced her first snow downfall for the year Oyinbo people can’t make yanga to us about winter. We too have snow, not in December, but in April.
CLAIM
Video shows snow in Jos, Plateau State.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the incident happened in Cameroon and not Jos.
Snow forms when water vapor turns to ice and makes crystals that form familiar six-sided snowflakes. On the other hand, hail develops when updrafts send ice pellets up into cold air aloft.
“Initially there’s a small ice pellet,” said Jeff Lorber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office in California, U.S. “Strong updrafts cause this ball of ice to expand as more supercooled water freezes onto it.”
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When few keyframes from the video were subjected to a Google Reverse Image search, the results showed that the footage had previously appeared on Facebook. It was uploaded two weeks earlier by NexDim Empire, a Facebook user.
The video was accompanied with a caption that read:
All we need for fall bush for Babanki Tungoh, North West region 🇨🇲 Some say na hailstones while others say na snow . This lady say na ice.
The FactCheckHub observed that the Facebook user posts content related to Cameroonian entertainment, and has amassed over 234,000 followers on Facebook.
In the comments section on his post, most users were worried about the damage it would do to crops.
Multiple similar videos were also posted by some other Cameroonian accounts on social media as seen here and here.
A Google search of Babanki Tungoh shows that it is a community located in the North-West region of Cameroon. Also known as Kedjom Ketinguh, the village is situated in a breathtaking volcanic landscape, surrounded by three prominent rock outcrops.
Further checks by The FactCheckHub show that snowfall is not a typical meteorological incident in Cameroon. Although the country lies near the equator, occasional snowfall can occur at the summit of Mount Cameroon, but such events are rare.
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In most parts of the country, snow is not a normal occurrence. For instance, reports of snow in Bana, located in Cameroon’s Western region in 2021 were later confirmed to be hail, not actual snow.
Also, recent weather reports from the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) show that there has not been any thunderstorms in Plateau State recently for there to be snow or hailstones as the weather is currently humid; also there would have been prior warnings from the weather agency.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows snow in Jos is MISLEADING, as the video is likely from Babanki Tungoh in the North-Western region of Cameroon.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or fquadri@icirnigeria.org.
