Does a viral video show "two large tornado producing supercells" in southern Florida on October 9, 2024, just before Hurricane Milton's landfall? No, that's not true: The video is a compilation of digitally created visuals and footage that date back years and months before Milton. No clips in the video were recorded in October 2024.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, where it was published on October 9, 2024. It opened:
I have lived in Florida for thirty six years and never seen anything like this. Have you? #hurricanemilton #Florida #Tornado #Milton #Milton2024 #miltonhurricane #HurricanMilton
The text across the shared video continued:
October 9, 2024
Two large tornado producing
supercells are moving north
in southern Florida right now.
Before Hurricane Milton landfall FL
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 23:25:05 2024 UTC)
The same video was previously published in the now-deleted October 9, 2024, post on TikTok:
(Source: TikTik screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 14:38:51 2024 UTC)
The posts implied that the shared video depicted actual tornadoes seen in Florida on October 9, 2024 (archived here), hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall (archived here) in the state that evening around 8:30 p.m. EDT near Siesta Key, south of the Tampa Bay area.
None of the storms seen in the video, however, occurred in Florida on October 9, 2024, before Hurricane Milton's landfall.
Clip #1
This clip, which has been flipped horizontally, came from a video (archived here) posted on YouTube on June 16, 2024, under a caption that read in part:
This all takes place in a fictional place called the Uncanny Valley.
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 18:13:02 2024 UTC)
The channel's description (archived here) emphasized that all its posted videos were created digitally and do not depict real life:
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 15:16:58 2024 UTC)
Clip #2
The second tornado from the video that is the focus of this fact check didn't show Milton, either. The clip had been online at least since May 2022 (archived here):
(Sources: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 15:19:14 2024 UTC; Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 15:24:10 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Clip #3
The third clip in the viral video on TikTok was shared in July 2024 (archived here) on Facebook. It was shot in upstate New York, in the town of Arkwright, as local ABC affiliate WKBW confirmed (archived here) on July 10, 2024:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 15:47:15 2024 UTC; Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 16:00:47 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
WKBW interviewed the man who had shot the video and took photos at the same location.
Clip # 4
The fourth clip in the viral video was published by First Coast News (archived here), an NBC affiliate in northeastern Florida's Jacksonville, on YouTube in April, 2022.
(Sources: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 16:12:58 2024 UTC; YouTube screenshot taken on Thu Oct 16:29:43 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Clip #5
The fifth clip from the viral video has been on TikTok since at least 2023 (archived here), as seen in the righthand screenshot below:
(Sources: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 16:35:56 2024 UTC; TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 16:52:39 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Clip #6
The sixth clip from the video has been on social media since at least mid-August 2024 (archived here), predating Hurricane Milton by almost two months:
(Sources: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 17:01:43 2024 UTC; Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 17:06:26 2024 leUTC; composite image by Lead Stories
Clip #7
The seventh piece of footage in the video was from a 2022 (archived here) news article that appeared on November 10, 2022, according to Google (archived here). It portrayed Florida's Tropical Storm Nicole, not Hurricane Milton.
(Sources: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 17:17:10 2024 UTC; News4jax screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 18:07:56 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Clip #8
The final, eighth fragment depicts an August, 2023 hurricane, Idalia, that struck northern Florida and the southastern U.S. The clip of Idalia put in the viral video can be seen at the 23-second mark in Montana CBS affiliate KTVQ's coverage of the hurricane from August 30, 2023 (archived here) -- well over a year before Hurricane Milton:
(Sources: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 18:55:20 2024 UTC; KTVQ screenshot taken on Thu Oct 10 18:48:45 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Other Lead Stories fact checks concerning Hurricane Milton can be found here.
