National Weather Service will no longer translate emergency warnings for non-English speakers

The National Weather Service is no longer providing language translations of its products, a change that experts say could put non-English speakers at risk of missing potentially life-saving warnings about extreme weather.The weather service has “paused” the translations because its contract with the provider has lapsed, NWS spokesperson Michael Musher said.He declined further comment.Lilt, an artificial intelligence company, began providing translations in late 2023, replacing manual translations that the weather service had said were labor-intensive and not sustainable.

It eventually provided them in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Samoan.The contract lapse comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to slash spending in federal agencies, including cuts within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that have led to high employee vacancy rates at NWS offices.NOAA referred questions about the contract to a message on its website announcing the contract had lapsed.

Lilt did not respond to requests for comment.Nearly 68 million people in the U.S.speak a language other than English at home, including 42 million Spanish speakers, according to 2019 Census data.Not being able to read urgent weather alerts could be a matter of life or death, said Joseph Trujillo-Falcón, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who has worked with NOAA researching how to translate weather and climate information to the public, including the use of artificial intelligence.He said translated weather alerts saved lives during a deadly tornado outbreak in Kentucky in 2021.  Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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