Fake Twister Image Goes Viral

A restaurant owner in Galway, Ireland has admitted to faking an image of a twister that went viral in August 2013.

Michael O’Meara of Oscars Seafood Bistro posted the image on the bistro’s Facebook page, and quickly saw it take off.

“I just popped it up on our own Facebook and within 15 minutes it had over one hundred shares. But again it really was a bit of fun, the hoax picture was even plagiarized,” he told the Irish Independent.

The original post read “Twister Spotted at Salthill!!!!!! Spotted by Sinead and Daisy boo while out walking the prom.”

O’Meara was surprised the image gained such notoriety. “I think it was the Dutch weather service, I may be wrong, that really set this one up on Wednesday with their twister prediction for Ireland,” he said.

To create the image, O’Meara superimposed an image of a waterspout over The Great Lakes of his own photograph of Galway Bay to create the fake image. The before and after images were posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page this morning, with the following description: “A quick before and after picture of the twister in Salthill. I thought it best to put in a copyright watermark this time.”

• Oscars Seafood Bistro (Facebook Page)
• Galway restaurant owner admits ‘tornado’ pic is fake (Aishling Phelan, Irish Independent: August 2, 2013)