Tropical Storm Hilary brought extreme amounts of rain to many parts of the Southwest, flooding some parts of California and drenching other parts of the desert.
Despite having declared a preemptive state of emergency, the Las Vegas area saw very little flooding.
But several viral tweets claimed water damaged the new icon of the city: the Sphere, a giant, circular entertainment venue that’s set to officially open in September.
Videos showed glitchy-looking patterns of black and purple lights on the building that ordinarily broadcasts high-resolution images on its surface. Posts mocked the designers of the expensive new attraction for apparently not preparing for the eventuality that Las Vegas might see rain.
THE QUESTION
Was the Sphere in Las Vegas damaged by rain from Tropical Storm Hilary?
THE SOURCES
- Video and pictures taken of the Sphere before the viral posts
- Video and pictures taken of the Sphere after the viral posts
- MSG Entertainment
THE ANSWER
No, the Sphere was not damaged. The images seen during the storm are ordinary testing patterns.
WHAT WE FOUND
The purple and black patterns displayed on the Sphere in the viral tweets have been seen before, and are a part of the building’s regular testing and boot-up procedures.
A video posted to YouTube in March, while the Sphere was still under construction, showed such a test, with near-identical patterns to the ones shown in the viral videos alleging to be water damage from Tropical Storm Hilary.
Pictures posted to Reddit around the same time showed similar patterns.
More recently, on Aug. 13, professional photographer George Rose published a photo via Getty Images that showed the same purple-and-black testing pattern.
On Aug. 20, only a few hours after one of the initial viral tweets was posted, other users began posting photos and videos showing the Sphere working at full capacity, displaying its usual high-resolution images without any problems, including while actively being rained on.
A spokesperson for MSG Entertainment, the company that built the Sphere, confirmed to VERIFY in an email that “rumors of any damage to Sphere or malfunctions are false.”
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