At a glance:

• Claim: The new “Typhoon Paolo” is considered a super typhoon and will hit the Visayas. 
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The low pressure area, whose local name would have been Paolo if it developed into a tropical cyclone, dissipated on December 23, 2021, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration. As of Saturday, December 25, there is no super typhoon in the Philippine Area of Responsibility. 
• Why we fact-checked this: This was flagged by Facebook’s fact-checking tool as potentially misleading. The video containing the claim has 114,454 views as of writing.

Complete details: 

A YouTube video’s title says that a new “Typhoon Paolo” is considered a super typhoon and will hit the Visayas. 

The video, which was uploaded on Thursday, December 23, by the verified channel “MJ Journals,” carried the title “BAGONG BAGYO! BAGYONG PAOLO, SUPER TYPHOON NA! TATAMA ULIT SA VISAYAS!” (New storm! Typhoon Paolo, already a super typhoon! It will hit the Visayas again!) The channel has 217,000 subscribers.

This was flagged by Facebook’s fact-checking tool as potentially misleading. The video containing the claim has 114,454 views as of writing. 

This claim is false. 

The low pressure area (LPA), whose local name would have been Paolo if it developed into a tropical cyclone, dissipated on December 23, 2021, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) – the same day the misleading video was posted.

As of Saturday, December 25, there is no super typhoon in the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), according to PAGASA’s “special weather outlook during the Christmas holidays.” 

Also, the content of the video itself contradicts what the title says. 

At the 0:32 mark of the video, the voice over says: “Samantala, ‘yung low pressure area naman po na mino-monitor natin sa labas ng Philippine Area of Responsibility ay huling namataan kanina sa layong 1,775 kilometers silangan ng Mindanao. Ayon sa latest nating analysis ay inaasahan po natin na maaari itong pumasok ng Philippine Area of Responsibility by Sunday or Monday. Nakikita po natin na nananatiling mababa ‘yung tsansa po nito maging bagyo, ngunit asahan po natin na magdudulot po ito ng mga kalat-kalat po na pag-ulan, sa ilang bahagi po diyan po sa silangang bahagi ng Visayas at Mindanao.”

(Meanwhile, the low pressure area that we are monitoring outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility was last seen 1,775 kilometers east of Mindanao. According to our latest analysis, we are expecting that it may enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Sunday or Monday. We predict that the chances of it becoming a storm are low, but expect it to cause scattered rain showers, in parts of eastern Visayas and Mindanao.) 

The report tells viewers to look out for updates from PAGASA regarding the storm. Searching online for the date and time of the report seen at the bottom of the video along with the term “Pagasa” brings up the legitimate weather report, which does not mention a super typhoon.

The Visayas and Mindanao are recovering from the damage wrought by Typhoon Odette, which made landfall a week before Christmas. – Vernise Tantuco/Rappler.com

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