Fact Check: FAKE German Weather Forecast Image Shows Lava Illustrating High Temperatures

Fact Check

  • by: Uliana Malashenko
Fact Check: FAKE German Weather Forecast Image Shows Lava Illustrating High Temperatures Edited

Did an image shared widely in July 2025 show an authentic screenshot of a German weather forecast? No, that's not true: The image was edited to make it more dramatic. No lava appeared in the original footage.

The claim appeared in a June 30, 2025, post on X (archived here). It read:

Jeeeeezus, if you think the climate propaganda is strong in the UK...

Check out the fiery inferno hell shown on German TV.

Climate Change is a scam.

This is how the post appeared on X at the time of writing:

Screenshot 2025-07-01 at 9.53.20 AM.png

(Source: X screenshot by Lead Stories)

What looked like a snapshot of the weather forecast, however, was a digitally altered image. The original footage (archived here) aired by German public broadcaster ARD (archived here) two days earlier did not show lava on the screen behind the meteorologist -- only areas with higher temperatures illustrated with the use of orange and red:

Screenshot 2025-07-01 at 10.04.14 AM.png

(Source: YouTube screenshot by Lead Stories; the page was automatically translated from German to English by Chrome)

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Other Lead Stories articles concerning stories from Europe are here.

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  Uliana Malashenko

Uliana Malashenko joined Lead Stories as a freelance fact checking reporter in March 2022. Since then, she has investigated viral claims about U.S. elections and international conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, among many other things. Before Lead Stories she spent over a decade working in broadcast and digital journalism, specializing in covering breaking news and politics. She is based in New York.

Read more about or contact Uliana Malashenko

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