Posts misrepresent Oregon cloud video after Ohio train derailment

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 16, 2023 at 21:16
4 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

Social media users are claiming a video shows a potentially hazardous smoke cloud in East Palestine, Ohio, where a train derailment in early February 2023 has prompted health and environmental concerns. This is false; the footage of storm clouds was filmed in Portland, Oregon and has circulated since at least November 2022.

"This is Ohio's Chernobyl," says one of several February 14, 2023 tweets that shared the video, which received more than 485,000 views.

Screenshot from Twitter taken February 16, 2023

Similar posts -- some claiming the images show a cloud of toxic chemicals -- spread across the platform and others, including in languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic and Chinese.

The posts come after a cargo train derailed on February 3 near East Palestine, a village in the US state of Ohio. The accident set off a days-long fire and the release of hazardous chemicals including vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that the National Cancer Institute has deemed carcinogenic.

Residents have expressed concerns about their safety as an odor continues to linger over the town days after authorities lifted an evacuation order, which had been put in place while crews performed a controlled release of the toxic fumes to avert a potential explosion.

But the video circulating online does not show smoke in East Palestine -- it was a weather phenomenon captured months earlier and thousands of miles away.

Footage from Oregon

Reverse image searches show the same video has circulated on TikTok since at least November 2022.

The user who shared the clip said they filmed the scene in Portland, Oregon. The same user re-posted the 21-second video on January 27, 2023, receiving more than 2.8 million views.

Screenshot from TikTok taken February 16, 2023

Screenshot from TikTok taken February 16, 2023

In a follow-up post on February 6, 2023, the user said the clip was not "fake" or "edited" and had been recorded months prior at Jantzen Beach Center, an outdoor shopping mall in Portland.

"That video is extremely old. Not extremely old, but several months old for sure," the user said. "When I was in Portland in Jantzen Beach ... I ended up seeing those clouds. No, I didn’t ever see rain, it didn’t ever rain that day. It just rolled in from one second to the next, honestly."

AFP confirmed the location using Google Maps Street View, which shows streets, storefronts, signage, shrubbery and other structures that match those in the video.

Screenshots from TikTok taken February 16, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

Screenshot from Google Maps Street View taken February 16, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

AFP reached out to the user who posted the footage for additional comment, but no response was forthcoming.

Video shows storm cloud

While it is unclear what type of cloud the video shows, meteorologists told AFP it resembles common features of stormy weather.

"It looks like a classic shelf or arcus cloud typically associated with approaching storms," said Marshall Shepherd, director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia.

Colby Neuman, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service (NWS) station in Portland, said the light on the horizon likely made the clouds appear darker by contrast, creating an "optical illusion."

"This looks like either the underside of a thunderstorm or the underside of a low-mid level stratus cloud deck," he said. "Either way, these clouds are not unusual."

Tanja Fransen, meteorologist in charge at the NWS's Portland station, added: "It's just the right time of day to catch a nice sunset on the back of a thunderstorm."

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