The National Weather Service (NWS) has halted providing translated weather information, a decision that experts warn could endanger non-English speakers by depriving them of crucial, potentially life-saving, weather alerts. The decision to “pause” the translations follows the expiration of a contract with their translation service provider, as explained by NWS representative, Michael Musher, who declined to comment further on the matter.
Previously, this translation task had been handled by Lilt, an artificial intelligence company, which took over the labor-intensive manual translations at the end of 2023. Services were rendered available in several languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Samoan. This cessation in services coincides with broader budgetary cutbacks under President Donald Trump’s administration, impacting federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), resulting in high vacancy rates within NWS.
NOAA referred inquiries about the expired contract to an update on its website, but Lilt wasn’t available for comment. In 2019, U.S. Census data showed that nearly 68 million people across the nation speak a language other than English in their homes, with Spanish being spoken by around 42 million citizens.
Joseph Trujillo-Falcón, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborator with NOAA on translating weather data for the public, underscored that the inability to read urgent weather notifications could have life-threatening repercussions. Trujillo-Falcón noted that during a deadly tornado outbreak in Kentucky in 2021, translated alerts played a critical role in saving lives. He referenced a Spanish-speaking family who received an English alert on their phones but only took action when the alert was received in Spanish.
“The translated alert saved their life,” Trujillo-Falcón remarked, highlighting that multi-lingual forecasters previously handled alerts’ translations, an additional burden to their forecasting responsibilities that could be overwhelming.
Highlighting the broader significance of these translations, Andrew Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher at Columbia University’s Climate School, pointed out that weather forecasts are vital across various sectors like tourism, transportation, and energy. With translated information, families and businesses can make safer and more informed decisions, guided by weather-driven actions.
From an anthropological perspective, Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, emphasized that many U.S. residents operate with a limited English proficiency focused on their daily lives. For instance, a shopkeeper might manage simple English interactions but struggle with complex weather-related terminology.
“Without access to National Weather Service information in their respective languages, the consequences could be life or death,” Mendoza-Denton warned.
In conclusion, the discontinuation of translation services by the NWS poses significant risks to millions of non-English speaking individuals who rely on accurate weather information to make informed decisions regarding their safety and well-being.