"The GAO report [PDF] noted that 26 million people in the US have "limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English." Two-thirds of people with limited English speak Spanish, while other major languages include Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog. French rounds out the top ten. If they can't understand the NWS's emergency weather messages sent to mobile phones or via radio and TV, this can lead to deaths and injuries, economic effects, and "confusion," for example, during evacuation efforts."
"Text alerts, or WEAs, are already distributed in Spanish, while the Emergency Alert System (EAS) over radio and TV is English-only. Most other non-alert messaging is English-only too. There are FCC requirements to support additional languages for WEAs by June 2028. At the same time, Executive Order 14224, signed on March 1, 2025, designated English as the official language of the US. This has caused uncertainty over exactly how far the NWS should go in extending its translated alerts."
"US spending watchdogs have called on the National Weather Service (NWS) to deliver an updated plan for its AI language translation project to reduce the risk posed by extreme weather events to people not proficient in English. The call from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) comes as vast swathes of the US are pinned down by a winter storm that has already claimed lives. But the NWS AI translation effort has been caught between a drive to reach as many people as possible, administration changes, and a White House Executive order to cement the role of English as the country's official language."
The Government Accountability Office asked the National Weather Service to produce an updated plan for its AI language translation project to reduce risks to people not proficient in English. Twenty-six million people in the US have limited English ability; two-thirds speak Spanish, with Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, and French among other major languages. Inability to understand emergency weather messages can cause deaths, injuries, economic impacts, and confusion during evacuations. WEAs are distributed in Spanish but most other messaging and the EAS remain English-only. FCC rules require additional WEA language support by June 2028. Executive Order 14224 designates English as the official language, creating uncertainty for translation efforts and NWS AI experiments that began in 2021 and expanded to public translated products in October 2023, with AI translating selected products from about a quarter of forecast offices as of December 2025.
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