Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh never gets rains? Wrong video goes viral; FACT CHECK

A message on Twitter is going viral showing a village called Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh as unique one with no rains throughout as it’s above the rain clouds. The claim has been supported with a video that shows clouds below.

The text reads: “अनोखा गांव : ये है दुनिया का इकलौता ऐसा गांव जहां कभी बारिश नहीं होती क्योंकि यह गांव आसमान में बारिश वाले बादलों के ऊपर है। इस गांव को अरुणाचल प्रदेश में पासीघाट के नाम से जाना जाता है।” (English translation: Unique Village: This is the only village in the world where it never rains, as it is above the rain clouds in the sky. This village is known as Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.)

The message has been widely shared here and here.

FACT CHECK

When Digiteye India team checked for the veracity of the claim, the village Pasighat has been in news several times and nowhere was it recorded that it was unique with no rains at all.

Located at 28.07°N 95.33°E, Pasighat is the headquarters of East Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, situated at the eastern foothills of the Himalayas at 155 meters (509 ft) above mean sea level.

Pasighat has a typical lowland Northeast India humid subtropical climate with an authentic record of rains, though very low. In fact, rain alerts and rains have been a natural weather condition in this village as against the claim made in the social media post.

Since the rainy winds are blocked by the hills, Pasighat receives exceptionally heavy Monsoons from July through September with an average rainfall of 31.34” that equals nearly 25mm a day.

See the Indian Meteorological Department’s charter showing the rain records of Pasighat between 1981 and 2010 below:

Further, the video that was added in the social media post was also not of Pasighat but of a village in Yemen, the only village in the world where it never rains. It was uploaded on Youtube on February 10, 2021, captioned:‘Al Hutaib Yemen’ only village in the world where it never rains.

Hence, an unrelated video from Yemen used to make a false claim that Pasighat never gets rains.

Claim: Pasighat village in Arunachal Pradesh never gets rains as it’s above the rain clouds.

Conclusion: Unrelated video from Yemen used and the claim is false as Pasighat gets rains.

Rating: Totally FalseFive rating

About Gayathri S.

Gayathri with more than 6 years of experience working with Microfinance Monitor and Global India News is our contributor covering fact-checks in areas from science, political, social to gender issues. She can be reached at gayathri@digiteye.in

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