--- title: British Government Warns That Loch Ness Is Not New Area 51 description: Move over, Area 51: A new Facebook event wants people to invade Loch Ness to find Nessie canonical: https://time.com/5631644/loch-ness-storm/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-22T15:36:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:06.111Z og:title: British Government Warns That Loch Ness Is Not New Area 51 og:description: “Nessie can’t hide from us all” og:url: https://time.com/5631644/loch-ness-storm/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: British Government Warns That Loch Ness Is Not New Area 51 twitter:description: “Nessie can’t hide from us all” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # There's a Warning for the Thousands Who Signed Up to 'Storm Loch Ness' Because 'Nessie Can't Hide From Us All' > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Area 51 Is the Internet's Latest Fascination. Here's Everything to Know About the Mysterious Site [Watch (HLS stream): Area 51 Is the Internet's Latest Fascination. Here's Everything to Know About the Mysterious Site](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0d5fGI8M.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2019-07-17. Area 51 has been shrouded in mystery for decades, so it only makes sense that the rumored alien secrets held within the remote desert site would get a reboot in the social media age._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 22, 2019 3:36 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 22, 2019 3:36 PM UTC As the world—and the U.S. military—waits to see if any of the [nearly two million people](https://www.facebook.com/events/448435052621047/) who [signed up on Facebook](https://time.com/5625420/area-51-petition/) for the Area 51 raid actually show up to invade the military installation to hunt for [aliens](https://time.com/alien-life/), the [viral story](https://time.com/5626450/storm-area-51-alien-memes/) seems to have inspired a similar event overseas. This time, though, they aren’t on the hunt for extraterrestrial life hidden by the government, but for the [Loch Ness monster](https://time.com/3962382/loch-ness-monster-catfish/). Over 19,000 people have signed up to “[Storm Loch Ness](https://www.facebook.com/events/453515052136554/)” on Facebook, saying that “Nessie can’t hide from us all” and that “The time is now for us to find dat big boi”. Another 40,000 say they are “interested” in the event scheduled to take place on September 21st. The volunteer Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew who monitors Loch Ness really hopes that no one actually shows up, [according to the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49070362), as they don’t have the resources of the U.S. military, which is [fully prepared](https://time.com/5627283/area-51-invasion-military-free-aliens/) to fend off any jokester planning to actually storm Area 51. The RNLI spokeswoman reminded anyone considering an invasion that Loch Ness is chilly, with an average temperature of just six degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit) and “that conditions \[can\] deteriorate quickly on the loch” making rescue a challenge, especially if 19,000 people actually show up to hunt for the Loch Ness monster. While their lifeboats are big, they aren’t _that_ big. At least one long-time Nessie watcher is convinced the cryptid is actually just [an oversized catfish](https://time.com/3962382/loch-ness-monster-catfish/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5631644/loch-ness-storm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5631644/loch-ness-storm/"},"headline":"There's a Warning for the Thousands Who Signed Up to 'Storm Loch Ness' Because 'Nessie Can't Hide From Us All'","datePublished":"2019-07-22T15:36:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:06.111Z","description":"“Nessie can’t hide from us all”","url":"https://time.com/5631644/loch-ness-storm/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Viral News","AREA 51"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5631644/loch-ness-storm/","name":"There's a Warning for the Thousands Who Signed Up to 'Storm Loch Ness' Because 'Nessie Can't Hide From Us All'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Area 51 Is the Internet's Latest Fascination. 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