The claim: Video shows 2024 tornado footage from Atlanta
A July 24 Facebook video ( direct link , archive link ) shows a montage of tornado footage. Most of the tornadoes in the video are large, and many of the clips show them damaging homes or infrastructure.
"Tornado in Atlanta 2024," reads the video's caption.
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Our rating: False
None of the footage in the video is from Atlanta in 2024, according to an area meteorologist. At least one of the clips appears to be digitally generated.
Tornado footage not from Atlanta in 2024
While there was a tornado in the Atlanta metro area in April 2024 , it is not shown in the video, Dylan Lusk, a National Weather Service meteorologist who works in Georgia, told USA TODAY.
"Nothing of this strength or magnitude or visibility has happened in Atlanta this year," he said after viewing the video.
He also said that, unlike the tornadoes in the video, most (but not all) tornadoes that occur in the Southeast are difficult to see because they are " rain-wrapped ," meaning they are obscured by heavy rain.
The Lansing State Journal reports there have been 14 tornadoes in Georgia in 2024 resulting in 7 injuries and $826,000 in damage.
Fact check : Old tornado clips misrepresented as 2024 footage from Dallas
USA TODAY determined that some of the clips in the post were shared online prior to 2024. These include videos uploaded to YouTube in 2014 and 2022 . Stills from other clips were published by media outlets in 2016 and 2021 . They show tornadoes in Colorado and Kansas, respectively.
The first clip in the video, showing a green tornado outside of a strip mall, is clearly digitally generated, according to Lusk.
"Many aspects of it don't look correct, from the how the wind moves into the tornado, to the color of it, to even how the cloud structures appear around it," he said.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Dylan Lusk , July 26, Phone interview with USA TODAY
- Greg Johnson (YouTube), June 16, 2014, Buildings flying through the air! Deadly Nebraska Tornado"
- La Risa Glitter Sparkle (YouTube), June 1, 2022, Andover Tornado 2022
- The Washington Post, May 9, 2016, Extreme up-close footage of a visually spectacular Colorado tornado
- The Guardian, Feb. 14, 2021, Among the storm chasers: witnessing the terrifying power of tornadoes
- Lansing State Journal, accessed July 29, A history of twisters: Tornadoes in Georgia 2024
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tornado video shows old and fabricated footage, not Atlanta in 2024 | Fact check
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