Old video resurfaces in claims of major April snowfall in South Africa
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 14, 2023 at 14:31
- 3 min read
- By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa
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The 90-second video shows blue, green, and yellow weather patterns south of the African continent. The blue indicates cold airflow.
The narrator introduces himself as “Juandre from Severe Weather Alert, your weather hooligan” and describes the “big masses of polar air” that are forecasted in 10 days.
He adds that South Africans can expect major snowfall in a number of places, including Johannesburg.
The video also appeared on TikTok on April 12, 2023, along with text suggesting the predicted snowfall in South Africa is a fact.
On Facebook, a user asked the Severe Weather and Information Centre SA (SWAICSA) community group if it was “false or old news”.
The group administrator responded (archived here) and directed the user to a Facebook post he made in 2022 to show that this is not the first time he has had to clarify the facts about this video.
“Please be advised that this video by my brother from another mother, The Weather Hooligan, is an old video. This video was not fake when it was shared. Snow did fall over large parts of SA,” read the post.
Local media debunked the same video in April 2022 after it started making the rounds again.
Weather Hooligan
AFP Fact Check conducted a keyword search of “weather hooligan South Africa” and found a July 2022 article that introduced the video’s narrator as Juandre Vorster, a South African weather enthusiast who incorporates comedy into his forecasts.
Vorster posted a video on April 10, 2023, joking that the snow forecast video will haunt him for thousands of years.
"Just letting you know that it's old news, because every winter for the next 10,000 years, it's gonna go around, for the rest of my life,” said Voster. “It's old, get over it, delete it, and get on with your life.”
The South African Weather Service also addressed the old video in a statement on April 11, 2023.
“There is no snowfall expected in the next 10 days in the regions mentioned in the video,” read the statement, which added that some rain and a cold front were being anticipated.
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