False posts share old weather report about 'frost on South Korea's highest peak'

"Yesterday's situation on Mount Halla," reads the Korean-language claim shared here on Oasis, a South Korean tabloid news website, on August 17.

The post includes a screenshot of a tweet from the KMA stamped with a date that reads: "1 day ago."

The tweet reads: "Ground cooling overnight dropped temperatures to around 0 degrees Celsius, and in some areas the first frost and ice of the year have been detected. 

"This morning, rime ice was found settled on Mount Halla. Rime ice refers to 'frost settled on trees and vegetation like fallen snow.' Be mindful that the cold weather can affect your health and crops."

Image

Screenshot of the false post, captured on August 19, 2022.

Mount Halla is the highest peak in South Korea located in the country's southernmost Jeju Island.

The post from Oasis was also shared in Facebook posts here, here, here and here.

Several users that left comments in the posts appeared to be misled by the claim.

One comment read: "Frost? In this weather?"

Another online user said: "Heavy rain, frost in the summer, the weather is going crazy."

The claim, however, is false.

Old tweet

A keyword search on Google found the corresponding tweet posted by the KMA on October 17, 2021.

Both the tweet and the images included match those shared in the misleading online posts.

Below is a screenshot comparison of one of the misleading posts (left) and the original KMA tweet (right) with the tweet date marked in blue:

Image

Local news organisations at the time also reported about the frost found in Mount Halla in October 2021, including here and here. 

'Unlikely conditions for frost'

A KMA spokesperson from the agency's Jeju branch told AFP that the claim "was not true," noting temperatures and weather conditions in the mountain.

"There is no likelihood that the year's first rime ice or frost has formed on Mount Halla," the spokesperson said on August 19. 

"On Mount Halla's Witse Oreum and Baekrokdam, where we operate automated weather stations, temperatures stood at 18.3 degrees and 17.4 degrees Celsius, which are not conditions in which ice can form."

The spokesperson added, "On the 17th, around 217 millilitres of rainfall were detected on Mount Halla, so ice cannot have formed in these conditions."

Mount Halla was hit by around 300 millilitres of rainfall per hour on August 17, and damage from heavy rains was reported in various parts of Jeju Island, according to local reports here and here. 

AFP could not find any credible reports or announcements about frost, ice or snowfall being detected in Jeju Island in August.