A post that contains a video of a mountainous village claims it to be a place where it never rains. As per the post, this is because it is located above the clouds. Let’s verify these claims via this article.
Claim: Visuals of a village located in in Arunachal Pradesh where it never rains.
Fact: The video shows a village named Al-Hutayb located in Yemen. There is no scientific proof that it does not rain in a place if it is located above a layer of clouds. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search on Yandex with the screenshots of the video led us to a YouTube video. The post description mentions the place as Al-Hutaib, Also spelt as Hutayb, Yemen. A quick search on google maps confirms that this place is indeed located in Yemen. We confirmed it after finding a video posted on Google Maps that is same as the video in the viral post.
We looked on the internet for the places on earth where it never rains. But none of the lists that we found mention AlHutaib, Yemen, as a place where it never rains. They can be read here and here.
The post claims that this video shows PasiGhat, Arunachal Pradesh, and it is a place where it never rains. We looked at the average rainfall in Pasighat, and according to tripcrafters.com, the average annual rainfall here is 153.5″. This post by world weatheronline.com also proves that Pasighat receives rainfall. If there is a place in India where it never rains, multiple reports about such a place would have been found, but a Google search with relevant keywords did not show any such report. Hence, we can conclude that PasiGhat is not the village where it never rains.
Does it really not rain in a place located above the clouds?
There are different types of clouds in the earth’s atmosphere. They are classified based on the distance they are located from the earth’s surface. According to NASA, at least five kinds of clouds form 2000 meters above the earth’s surface, producing precipitation in various capacities. So, Al-Hutaib, located 3200 meters above sea level, has at least four kinds of clouds that form below 2000 meters.
But one cloud type, Cumulonimbus, forms until 20,000 meters above the ground level. According to National Geographic, they produce thunderstorms and heavy rain. The same is written about the Cumulonimbus clouds in metoffice.gov.uk. So, there is still a chance of receiving rainfall in a place which is located above a specific cloud type unless it is above 20,000 meters or has extreme weather conditions. It is not possible on earth because the highest peak in the world is Mt.Everest which is located at an altitude of 8,849 m above sea level. A weather forecast report according to weatheratlas.com indicates that it does rain in Hutyab. In response to a FAQ question about how much it rains in Al-Hutyab, the website said, ‘Throughout the year, in Hutayb, there are 151.9 rainfall days, and 526mm (20.71″) of precipitation is accumulated.’
To summarise, visuals of a village located in Yemen is falsely shared as of a village in Arunachal Pradesh where it never rains.
