04/08/2025

National Weather Service Halts Automated Translation for Alerts

The pause impacts millions of Americans who don't speak English

The National Weather Service (NWS) has halted its automated language translation services until further notice, potentially hindering the millions of U.S. residents who speak a language other than English from accessing lifesaving information at a time when climate change is exacerbating extreme weather events, experts say.

The pause was “due to a contract lapse” with an artificial intelligence firm providing the translation services, according to a message from the agency this month.

In October 2023, the NWS announced that its forecasters had been working with the machine learning company Lilt to train AI software on weather-related terminology in Spanish and simplified Chinese. It also went on to offer translations in French, Samoan and Vietnamese. According to a U.S. Census report, 67.8 million people in the United States spoke a language other than English at home in 2019.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.