Old sleet footage misrepresented as Thailand's 'first snow'

"Snow is falling in Huai Kaew, Chiang Mai," says a Thai-language Facebook post published January 14, 2025.

Text over the clip reads: "Phenomenon of first snow in Thailand."

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Screenshot of the false post taken January 20, 2025

The footage, filmed by a person in the car, appears to show white particles on the road. A woman's voice says: "Dad, where is mom? Come, come, come watch the snow. Here in Huai Kaew. There's snow in Huai Kaew."

The video has accumulated 13 million views and more than 20,000 shares. It has spread alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook and TikTok.

The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) reported January 20, 2025 that weather conditions in the northern and northeastern regions would range from cold to very cold, with frost expected in some areas (archived links here and here). Due to the La Niña phenomenon, the cold weather is expected to last until mid-February.

However, the online video is from 2022 and shows the scene after a hailstorm in Phayao -- not Chiang Mai in 2025. 

While temperatures in Thailand are cooler from December to February each year, there have never been credible snowfall reports.

Hailstorm in 2022

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the footage found a longer version of the same video published in a TikTok post on January 21, 2022 (archived link).

The original post's caption reads: "Thai snow, a heavy hailstorm in winter at Baan Nong Lao, Huai Kaew subdistrict, Phu Kam Yao district, Phayao province on 20/01/2022."

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Screenshot comparison of the misrepresented clip (L) and the original video

Separate keyword searches found a Facebook video shared January 20, 2022 that says it was filmed at the same location (archived link).

Using visual clues from the TikTok and Facebook videos, AFP geolocated the road where it was filmed (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison of the scene in the original video (L) and the location on Google Street View, with a corresponding feature marked by AFP

The TikTok user also confirmed to AFP that the video was taken after a hailstorm in Phayao province, almost 700 kilometres north of Bangkok.

MCOT, a Thai state-owned public broadcaster, reported Phayao was rocked by off-season storms in January 2022, leaving a pile of hail stones on streets "like snow" (archived link).

In a Facebook post published January 15, 2025, the TMD dismissed rumours of snow, saying there has only been sleet in northern Thailand recently (archived link).

TMD previously refuted claims that Thailand experienced its first snowfall in 2024, explaining that the country is located near the equator and has tropical weather conditions that are not conducive for snow (archived link).