Claims about snow in Nigeria spread climate disinformation

Climate change is a global phenomenon that refers to long-term shifts in Earth’s temperature and weather patterns. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the intensity of weather events, such as heat waves, cold spells, storms, floods, and droughts, is attributed to climate change.

Amidst this potential issue affecting various countries worldwide, viral claims of snowfall in Nigeria, a West African country situated in a tropical region, have been circulating on social media, sparking curiosity and confusion.

A Facebook user, Alegu Ifeanyi Kingsley, changed his name to Comedic Memes on 24 September 2023. He claimed snow fell in Nigeria’s northern and southern regions, comparing the country with Lesotho in South Africa.

On 16 June, 2025, his post reads, “Why It Snows In Lesotho It’s Also Snowing In Nigeria. Snow fell this morning in the Northern and Southern Regions of Nigeria. A strong cold front has hit many parts of Nigeria. Photos were taken earlier today. (sic)”

As of June 29, 2025, the post has garnered 386 reactions, 223 comments, and two shares. A survey of the comment section showed mixed reactions among other users. While many dismissed the post as a joke, others debated whether it was a real weather change or a winter wonder tale.

One of the users, Jonny Michael, commented, “You guys are clowns …did they tell you that those pictures were taken in nigeria ….the first picture is a Nigerian content creator based in UK, he do put on that cloth to make videos …the second picture is bobsleigh  team representing nigeria at the winter Olympic (sic)”

Another user, Nozi Kholeka, also wrote, “Bro stop embarrassing yourself in front of people, there’s no snow in Nigeria and that will never happen (sic)”

The same claim was posted here and here.

We conducted a Google Reverse image search on one of the images attached to the post used to depict snow in Nigeria. Our findings revealed that the actual location of the two women holding the Nigerian flag in a snow-covered background was not Nigeria, but Australia.

A Facebook video posted on 16 February 2024 by the British Army Bobsleigh revealed that the two women were members of the Nigerian Bobsleigh team, who represented the country in the two-woman bobsleigh races in Innsbruck, Australia.

We also found a 30-second video on Alegu’s Facebook page claiming snowfall in Enugu, a southern state in Nigeria. DUBAWA recently debunked the clip here.

In this investigative fact-check, we found that many social media platforms in Nigeria are spreading climate disinformation, telling false narratives about snowfall. We also found that several AI-generated videos have been used to promote this narrative further.

More social media users are pushing the false narratives of snow in Nigeria 

Aside from Alegu’s claims, several Facebook accounts have posted similar claims of snowfall in Nigeria.

One of such is a Facebook user, Mpa Pikin Comedy. He posted footage with the caption, “Snow is now falling in Nigeria. Tinubu regime have changed everything #snow #nigeria (sic)”

The post has 12 reactions, four reactions, and 38 shares. We noticed that Mpa also continued to push the narrative in the comment section of his post.

Another Facebook account, Aare Almaroof tv2, shared a video on 2 May, 2025 with the caption, “Plateau, Jos, Nigeria just experienced her first snow downfall for the year. Oyinbo people can’t make yanga for us in winter. We, too, have snow, not in December, but in April. (sic)”

Peters Olaniyi Olusegun‘s post, on 17 June 2025, claiming it is snowing in Ikorodu, Lagos, has garnered over 49,000 reactions, 6,000 comments, and 500,800 shares. He again shared another clip with the caption, “First snow in Ijebu Ode. We are getting there @highlight #fypreelsシ゚viralシ2025 #fypreelsシ゚viralシ #2025reels #shoutout #WoleSoyinka #parrera”

Similar claims can be found on social media here, here, here, here, here, and here.

A Google keyword search and analysis of reports from credible Nigerian news outlets revealed that snowfall did not occur in Ikorodu or any other part of Nigeria, as the videos claimed.

In 2020, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASMA) debunked a related incident of foam-like substances mistaken for snow in Lagos. LASMA clarified that the substance resulted from industrial chemical spillage, not snow. The reports can also be found on the BBC Pidgin and ICIR.

AI-generated videos claim

We traced the original viral footage of supposed snowfall in Ikorodu to a TikTok account, Johnnymontage, whose post was captioned, “POV. Waking up to Lagos snowing on Monday morning is wild.”

A closer look at the video background activities revealed some anomalies, such as items disappearing and a human figure emerging from another.

We further subjected the video to Deepware. The results suggest the video is potentially manipulated, with three out of four models flagging it as suspicious with probabilities ranging from 56% to 66%.

Analysis of the clip using Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, flagged the video as containing AI-generated and deepfake content, with an overall score of 99.4 per cent.

Other social media accounts using AI video to depict snowfall in certain parts of Nigeria can be found here. On TikTok here and here.

We also found the claim on Instagram and YouTube channels here, here, and here.

Many of these social media accounts do not explicitly label their content as fictional or satirical, which could mislead unsuspecting viewers into believing that actual snowfall occurred in Nigeria.

This reflects a growing trend of AI-edited weather hoaxes across various parts of Nigeria, such as Lagos, Jos, and Enugu, among others. These hoaxes blend humour with misleading visuals, often for virality and engagement.

Can it snow in Nigeria?

The World Population Review, in its 2025 Tropical Countries report, ranks Nigeria among the fully tropical countries. According to the review, “Tropical countries tend to have hotter, wetter and more humid weather,” where the average temperature rarely falls below 20°C. 

Nigeria experiences distinct rainy and dry seasons. The country’s rainy season typically lasts from April to December, and it does not witness snowfall under natural conditions.

Meanwhile, in certain high-altitude regions of Africa, there are countries where snowfall occurs, primarily in South Africa and Tanzania. These areas experience snowfall during their winter months.

Articles by the Tribune Newspaper and BusinessDay, published in 2024, compiled the list of seven African nations where snowfall occurs. Nigeria was not mentioned. Similarly, Vanguard’s report of five countries in Africa where snow falls also did not include Nigeria.

A BBC article published on June 10, 2025, also reported that heavy snow had recently hit South Africa. The article stated that snowfall in South Africa is regular during its winter months, from June through August, with temperatures often reaching below 0°C (32°F). A Pictorial report of snowfall in some parts of South Africa can be found on Al Jazeera here.

Experts views

A Climatology expert, Professor Precious Ede, from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, discredited the claims of snowfall in Nigeria. According to  Ede, if snowfall had occurred, it would have been a major news headline in Nigerian newspapers and the mainstream media, which is not the case. He added that Nigeria’s tropical location makes snowfall impossible in  Lagos, Enugu, and other parts of the country.

“I also saw a video claiming snowfall in Jos. After seeing a bit of the video, I knew there was something wrong. It appeared suspicious because the person in the video was not dressed warmly enough for zero-degree temperatures. These videos appeared about six weeks ago. That was around April. April and May typically experience some of the highest temperatures across Nigeria, regardless of location. Even coastal areas like Lagos become very hot around April. So for somebody to say it snows in some part of Nigeria is not true,” he said.

He further explained that the weather phenomenon most similar to snow in Nigeria is hailstones, which are mostly common in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State. He added that hailstones are blocks of ice that fall from the sky and are a form of precipitation, distinct from snowfall. Given the country’s climate, Ede concluded that claims of snowfall in Nigeria are unfounded.

According to a media expert, Mustapha Gholahon, snow has never fallen in Nigeria. He emphasised that the viral claims of snow in the country are false, with some citizens who can not differentiate between snow and hail.

Mustapha highlighted that the significant difference between snow and hail is that “Snow comes from the floor, that is, our atmosphere, but hail is in the form of an ice block that comes from the sky. The weather doesn’t have to be cold before hail can fall; it doesn’t have to be 1 degree Celsius or lower. As for snow, the temperature must be cold, at most 1 degree Celsius or zero degrees Celsius. Even in Jos, in Plateau State, where people claimed snow fell, the lowest temperature ever recorded is 6.7 degrees Celsius. We have never seen snow in Nigeria; what we have seen is hail,” he said.