Video of Sandstorm in Jeddah is Outdated
The Claim
A video claiming to be from the recent sandstorm in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
News posted on
Emerging story
Posts widely circulated on social media share a video of a sandstorm in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The video has a man speaking, saying that this is the sandstorm in Jeddah and asking people to be careful, take cover and that the day turned into night, reducing visibility. The posts add that the sandstorm blocked the sun and turned the day into night. According to claims, the sandstorm occurred Wednesday morning, March 24, in Makkah and Jeddah's cities.
Misbar’s Analysis
The Misbar investigation found this claim to be misleading. Although the video was of a sandstorm in Jeddah, it is from over six years ago. The video was on Youtube posted on 9 September 2015. Furthermore, the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) 's official account in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Twitter posted a tweet clarifying the video. The video is “old and out of place,” as seen in the image below.
Saudi Arabia did face a sandstorm almost two weeks ago, with another one expected in the coming days, according to the NCM.
