Video compilation misrepresents old, unrelated clips as Wyoming hailstorm
- Published on August 6, 2025 at 16:42
- 11 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"August 1, 2025 Baseball size hail hammers south side of Cheyenne, WY," says text over an August 3, 2025 TikTok video viewed more than 3.5 million times.
Similar posts spread in English and Spanish and across TikTok and other platforms, including Facebook and X, with some users invoking conspiracy theories about weather modification.
"This isn't 'just weather' anymore..." says one post on X. "#WeWantAnswers."
The posts follow extreme weather in Cheyenne that, according to local news outlets and the National Weather Service (NWS), included severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. NWS local storm reports say the city saw hail as big as tennis balls (archived here).
But the dramatic video footage in the compilation is unrelated to the August 1 hailstorm.
AFP could not verify the origin of two of the 14 clips in the montage. But the other 12 are all outdated and recorded outside Wyoming, AFP determined using reverse image searches, keyword searches and geolocation.
Arkansas, June 2023
The compilation's first video traces to a hailstorm that hit Lake Hamilton, a census-designated place in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in June 2023.
The footage appeared in local news reports and on the video-licensing website ViralHog (archived here and here).
Germany, August 2023
The second video, of hail damaging a Tesla, originated on TikTok. The owner of the vehicle posted it in August 2023 alongside other footage of the car (archived here and here).
The original video is geotagged to the German state of Bavaria, and the license plate begins with TÖL, the code for the town of Bad Tölz. A sign visible in another video of the Tesla appears to advertise a pet-supply company located in the same district.
Texas, April 2023
The third clip, which shows a bull trotting as hail splashes into a pool in front of him, dates to April 2023 and was filmed in Dublin, Texas (archived here and here).
Homeowner Gary Clayton told local media the animal was seeking shelter under trees.
AFP confirmed the location using Google Earth satellite imagery.
Australia, January 2020
The compilation's fourth video is an inverted version of a recording showing workers at the National Gallery of Australia taking cover from a January 2020 hailstorm in Parkes, a town in New South Wales.
The footage was originally posted to Facebook -- where its visibility has since been restricted -- and published by the video-licensing agency Storyful (archived here).
AFP geolocated the footage to the art museum, where umbrellas, tables and a water fountain in the video match Google Street View imagery from the site (archived here).
Australia, October 2020
The fifth video from the mashup is a flipped version of footage captured as hail rained down on Springfield Lakes, a suburb in Queensland, Australia. It is featured in a highlight reel of hailstorms on the YouTube channel called "Severe Weather Australia" (archived here).
A caption on the original video, which shows the same kiddie pool and hose, says the incident took place in October 2020 (archived here).
Missouri, March 2025
The sixth recording, of hail piling onto a balcony, inverts and misappropriates a video posted in March by a TikTok user who said it was filmed in St. Louis, Missouri (archived here).
"This is what I get for visiting Missouri," the user wrote.
Minnesota, July 2023
The eighth clip in the compilation, which is also inverted, shows a hailstorm over a lake in Deer River, Minnesota.
Storyful and the Weather Channel both published the footage, dating it to July 2023 (archived here and here).
Australia, November 2019
The ninth clip, of ice chunks pounding a pool deck, also appears in the YouTube montage of hailstorm videos from "Severe Weather Australia" (archived here).
A text overlay places the footage in Palmview, a locality in Queensland, in November 2019.
Australia, December 2017
The tenth video is similarly lifted from the "Severe Weather Australia," which published it to Facebook in December 2017 and later included it as part of its Australian hailstorms compilation on YouTube (archived here and here).
The Facebook post says the footage was captured in Oakley, another town in Queensland.
Arkansas, June 2023
The 11th visual being misrepresented online, which shows frozen rain smacking against the hood of a truck, was first posted to TikTok in June 2023 (archived here).
A hashtag on the TikTok post says it took place in Arkansas.
@kyhailrepair This hurts just watching it. #fyp#hailstorm#gmc#storm#arkansas#weather#trucksoftiktok♬ original sound - kyhailrepair
An article about the video on GM Authority, a website for General Motors fans, further specifies that the location was Hot Springs (archived here).
Calgary, August 2024
The 13th clip in the compilation has been online since August 2024, when a TikTok user shared it in connection with a hailstorm in Calgary, a city in Alberta, Canada (archived here).
@yycqueen1#hail#yyccalgary#heavystorm⛈️#rain#yyccalgary#alberta#thunderstorm#calgaryhailstorm♬ original sound - Queen
Texas, May 2020
The 14th shot is an inverted version of footage uploaded to to a storm-chasing YouTube channel in May 2020 (archived here).
The caption says a thunderstorm produced large hail near Quanah, Texas, along Oklahoma Highway 6 north of the Red River.
A search of the area on Google Street View uncovered what appears to be a matching street sign (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about weather here.
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