Weather Safety: Agencies Face Challenges Related to Multilingual Weather Alerts, and AI Project Needs Better Planning
Fast Facts
People who can't understand English may face greater risk during extreme weather events like hurricanes and flash floods. The National Weather Service provides cell phone emergency alerts in English and Spanish, but TV and radio alerts are usually only in English.
Translating weather information into multiple languages is challenging. In this Q&A, we looked at NWS's project that uses artificial intelligence to help. NWS is providing AI-translated forecasts and warnings in 5 languages, but they aren't yet available nationwide.
NWS hasn't made a plan that lays out goals and resource needs for its AI translation project. We recommended it do so.
Example of an emergency weather alert on a cell phone
A hand holding a cell phone displaying an emergency weather alert from the National Weather Service
Highlights
What GAO Found
The National Weather Service (NWS) and other government entities use two types of emergency alerts to inform the public about certain weather events: Wireless Emergency Alerts and messages sent through the Emergency Alert System.
Wireless Emergency Alerts are text-like messages delivered to mobile phones and devices. NWS provides all of its Wireless Emergency Alerts in English and Spanish. While other alerting authorities, such as state and local governments, may choose to translate alerts into Spanish, they provided most of their Wireless Emergency Alerts in English only from December 2019 through December 2024 (see fig.). These state and local alerts may include essential information that differs from what NWS provides, such as evacuation orders.
The Emergency Alert System delivers messages through radio and television. NWS provides most of its Emergency Alert System messages in English only, in part because the agency has few of the radio transmitters that broadcast in other languages. Because broadcasters have discretion over whether to air the messages, agency data are limited on the languages in which these messages are broadcast on television and radio.
NWS and other federal agencies that have roles in emergency alerting face challenges related to providing alerts in additional languages. These challenges include the complexity of making changes to alerting systems and technical and resource challenges. In addition, state and local government agencies may not have the funding, staff expertise, or other resources needed to create alerts in languages other than English.
Federal agencies have taken some steps to make weather alerts available in additional languages. For example, the Federal Communications Commission has adopted requirements for wireless carriers to support template Wireless Emergency Alerts in English and 14 other languages. These requirements will become effective in 2028.
In addition to weather alerts, NWS issues weather products such as forecasts, watches, and warnings through other means. NWS has been using artificial intelligence (AI) to translate some of these weather products into five languages—Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Samoan. About a quarter of its weather forecast offices and the National Hurricane Center were participating in this project as of December 2025. Officials said using AI could help NWS disseminate information in other languages more quickly and at lower cost.
NWS’s AI language translation project could play a key role in expanding the accessibility of weather products, in turn helping reduce risks to public health and safety during extreme weather events. NWS has developed a plan for expanding the translation of its weather products using AI and has stated it intends to continue these efforts.
However, NWS has not documented measurable performance goals, resource needs, or challenges for the project and has not updated its plan for the longer term. NWS also faces challenges providing translated weather products, including staff capacity, funding, and technical limitations to disseminating these products.
Incorporating certain key practices GAO has identified—such as developing measurable performance goals and identifying resource needs and strategies to address internal and external challenges—would help NWS better manage the AI language translation project, plan for its future, and communicate resource needs to Congress.
Why GAO Did This Study
An estimated 26 million people in the U.S. have limited ability to understand English, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. These individuals may face greater risk during extreme weather events if information is not provided in a language they can understand. When individuals cannot understand weather warnings or evacuation instructions, it can slow emergency response efforts, create confusion, and jeopardize public safety.
House Report 117-395 includes a provision for GAO to review the emergency alert systems used for weather alerts and assess the ability of relevant federal agencies to provide weather alerts and other weather products in languages other than English. This review provides information on the languages in which weather alerts and other weather products are available, challenges to providing this information in languages other than English, and actions that could help federal agencies better communicate weather information in other languages.
GAO reviewed relevant laws, regulations, executive orders, and agency documents and analyzed FEMA data on Wireless Emergency Alerts sent from 2019 through 2024. GAO also interviewed agency officials and representatives from state and local alerting authorities, industry, and advocacy groups and community organizations.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that NWS develop an updated implementation plan for its AI language translation project. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, on behalf of NWS, agreed with our recommendation and described steps it would take to implement it.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| National Weather Service | The Director of NWS should develop an updated implementation plan for NWS's AI language translation project. The updated plan should document (1) measurable performance goals tied to specific time frames; (2) resources needed to achieve each goal, such as funding, workforce, and IT needs; and (3) internal and external factors that could affect NWS's ability to achieve its goals and strategies to address these factors. (Recommendation 1) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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