Overview

• The National Weather Service has reinstated its contract with Lilt, an AI translation provider, after a lapse earlier this month caused a temporary pause in multilingual weather alerts.
• Weather alerts in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Samoan will resume by the end of the day Monday, restoring vital warnings for non-English-speaking communities.
• Experts had raised concerns that the suspension of translated alerts could endanger millions of people during severe weather events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis.
• Nearly 68 million U.S. residents speak a language other than English at home, highlighting the critical need for multilingual weather communication.
• Budget and staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Weather Service's parent agency, have strained resources and operational continuity in recent years.