Fact Check: Video showing thunderstorm is not from Himachal Pradesh, it is from Guatemala

The month of Shravan has already started, and Kawadias (devotees of Lord Shiva) are collecting water from rivers to offer to the Shivling in their respective hometowns or at popular temples across India. Most Kawadias collect water before any Sunday in the month of Shravan and pour it on the Shivling on Monday morning. The number of Kawadias is increasing day by day. As a trend, many reels and videos are being shared on social media by Kawadias.

In this backdrop, a video of a lightning strike on the top of a mountain is circulating on social media. Users have shared it with the claim that there is a temple of Lord Shiva known as Bijli Mahadev at the top of the mountain, and that the thunderstorm hit it.

Social media users shared the video with the caption “This video is from Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India, where Hindu God Bijli (Thunder) Mahadev temple is there so a thunderstorm directly hit the temple”.

We also found a few users shared the same video with the Hindi text: “हिमाचल प्रदेश में एक ऐसा मंदिर भी है, जहां हर 12 साल में वहां बिजली गिरती है। ये मंदिर भगवान शिव को समर्पित है, जहां बिजली गिरने के बाद शिवलिंग चकनाचूर हो जाता है। यही नहीं यहां के पंडित एक विशेष पेस्ट के साथ शिवलिंग को जोड़ते हैं”।

When translated to English, it reads: “There is a temple in Himachal Pradesh where lightning strikes every 12 years. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, and the Shivling gets shattered after each strike. The Pandits here attach the Shivling with a special paste.”

Fact Check: We found the claims to be false. The video is not from Himachal Pradesh, nor is there any temple. The video actually shows a thunderstorm striking an erupting volcano in Guatemala.

During the reverse image search, we found AccuWeather, a very popular app in weather forecasting and updates, uploaded the same video in YouTube Shorts. In the description, we found Accuweather mentioned: “A spectacular sight unfolded in Guatemala on Sunday, April 28, as a thunderstorm coincided with an eruption of the Volcan del Fuego near the city of Antigua. Footage filmed by Johan Wolterink shows a lightning bolt striking out from the volcano’s crater, illuminating the sky as the volcano was emitting thick plumes of smoke and ash. The volcano expelled columns of gas reaching approximately 984 feet (300 meters) in height and dispersed ashes over a distance of around 30 kilometers (18.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology of Guatemala”.

When we searched with the keyword “Thunderstorm striking an erupting volcano in Guatemala”, we found many media shared the same video on their social media sites. 

We also found an article published on Smith Sonianmag with the title: “Volcanic lightning is so common that it’s even earned its own nickname: dirty thunderstorms”.

Hence, we found the claim to be false. The thunderstorm did not strike a temple in Himachal Pradesh. The viral video is actually from Guatemala, where thunderstorm struck an erupting volcano.