CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - There are fake Hurricane Irma forecasts going viral on social media.
Many of those posts are being shared thousands of times on Facebook when they're not true.
Live 5 News Meteorologist Joey Sovine says he's noticing more fake forecasts and encourages people to get weather updates from news agencies, trusted meteorologists, in addition to the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service.
"There's no need to panic. The National Hurricane Center issues forecasts out to five days. These [other] posts are for forecasts out to 10 and 15 days," Sovine said.
"Right now we are watching Hurricane Irma very closely because it does present a possible impact in the U.S." Sovine said. "Now is it too early to tell where? Yes."
He says people in areas from Texas to Maine should be watching Irma and people in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
"Right now to narrow down and say one particular spot is going to get the storm is just not at our capability at this point in time," Sovine said.
One of the false forecasts shows Hurricane Irma striking Texas and others say it could become a Category 6 Hurricane, when there's no such thing.
The scale ends at Category 5.
"People are getting word and they don't need to be panicked and that's the problem with these fake posts and fake weather posts that are out there. They can run rampant," Sovine said.
While we don't know Irma's exact path, you should still prepare.
"It's very important to just have a basic plan of what you would do in case a hurricane comes," Sovine said. "If you don't have that, now is the time certainly to do it."
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