Latest news with #Trujillo-Falcón
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
‘Life or death situation': UI researcher reacts to NWS pause in forecast translations
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The National Weather Service (NWS) is pausing forecast translations for non-English speakers after a contract with the provider ended. Now, some experts consider this a 'life or death' situation. Joseph Trujillo-Falcón, researcher and faculty member with U of I's Department of Climate, Meteorology, and Atmospheric Sciences, studies the impacts of what happens if people don't have accessible alerts in a language they speak. 'We found that the forecasts could be as accurate as could be, we could give a heads up in advance, but it's the fact people don't understand it in a language they understand,' he said. Now, the pause in forecast translations isn't helping to fill that gap; and Trujillo-Falcón is worried the 68 million people in the U.S. who speak another language won't have proper information to make informed decisions. The NWS used to translate manually, but said the workflow was 'labor intensive and not sustainable.' Trujillo-Falcón said it would sometimes take an hour to translate from English to Spanish. Nearly half of National Weather Service offices have 20% vacancy rates, and experts say it's a risk 'These automated programs, however, have reduced the translation time from an hour to two to three minutes,' he explained. 'When we think about tornadoes, they can happen from one moment to another. That can be the difference between life and death.' NWS partnered with Lilt, an AI company, in 2023 but the contract has since ended. But, that's not stopping Trujillo-Falcón. He has a Facebook page dedicated to spreading watches and warnings in Spanish. 'People have been thankful, especially with the most recent events with the sirens going off time and time again. They were able to make sense of it and make proper decisions,' he said. WCIA Weather Now He's proud of the work his team is doing and wants to continue helping non-English speakers get access to weather forecasts they understand. 'We can come from various backgrounds, believe in various different things,' Trujillo-Falcón said. 'I'm just a fond believer that no matter where you come from, no matter how you're raised, you deserve to have a chance at life-saving information during natural disasters.' He leads the Advancing Language Equity and Resilience in the Atmospheric Sciences lab on the U of I campus. It's dedicated to improving communication efforts for weather and climate events. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
08-04-2025
- Climate
- CNN
National Weather Service no longer translating products 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. A Spanish-speaking family interviewed afterward said they got a tornado alert on their cellphone in English but ignored it because they didn't understand it, he said. When the same alert came in Spanish, they quickly sought shelter, he said. 'It saved their life,' said Trujillo-Falcón. Trujillo-Falcón said weather alerts used to be translated by forecasters that spoke more than one language, a task that could be 'completely overwhelming' on top of their forecasting duties. The translations are important for more than extreme weather events, said Andrew Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University. General weather forecasts are essential for a number of sectors including tourism, transportation and energy. Families and businesses can make more informed decisions when they can get weather information that often includes actions that should be taken based on the forecast. Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there are many people in the U.S. that function with limited English relevant to their daily routines. For example, a shopkeeper might be able to have short conversations with customers, but might not have the same understanding when it comes to reading weather or climate terminologies. 'If they don't have access to that National Weather Service information in the different languages, that could be the difference between life and death for somebody,' said Mendoza-Denton.
CNN
08-04-2025
- Climate
- CNN
National Weather Service no longer translating products 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. A Spanish-speaking family interviewed afterward said they got a tornado alert on their cellphone in English but ignored it because they didn't understand it, he said. When the same alert came in Spanish, they quickly sought shelter, he said. 'It saved their life,' said Trujillo-Falcón. Trujillo-Falcón said weather alerts used to be translated by forecasters that spoke more than one language, a task that could be 'completely overwhelming' on top of their forecasting duties. The translations are important for more than extreme weather events, said Andrew Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University. General weather forecasts are essential for a number of sectors including tourism, transportation and energy. Families and businesses can make more informed decisions when they can get weather information that often includes actions that should be taken based on the forecast. Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there are many people in the U.S. that function with limited English relevant to their daily routines. For example, a shopkeeper might be able to have short conversations with customers, but might not have the same understanding when it comes to reading weather or climate terminologies. 'If they don't have access to that National Weather Service information in the different languages, that could be the difference between life and death for somebody,' said Mendoza-Denton.
NBC News
07-04-2025
- Climate
- NBC News
National Weather Service no longer translating products 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 Lilt, an artificial intelligence company, has lapsed, NWS spokesman 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 and eventually. 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. A Spanish-speaking family interviewed afterward said they got a tornado alert on their cellphone in English but ignored it because they didn't understand it, he said. When the same alert came in Spanish, they quickly sought shelter, he said. 'It saved their life,' said Trujillo-Falcón. Trujillo-Falcón said weather alerts used to be translated by forecasters that spoke more than one language, a task that could be 'completely overwhelming' on top of their forecasting duties. The translations are important for more than extreme weather events, said Andrew Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University. General weather forecasts are essential for a number of sectors including tourism, transportation and energy. Families and businesses can make more informed decisions when they can get weather information that often includes actions that should be taken based on the forecast. Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there are many people in the U.S. that function with limited English relevant to their daily routines. For example, a shopkeeper might be able to have short conversations with customers, but might not have the same understanding when it comes to reading weather or climate terminologies. 'If they don't have access to that National Weather Service information in the different languages, that could be the difference between life and death for somebody,' Mendoza-Denton said.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
National Weather Service no longer translating products 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 spokesman 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 and eventually. 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. A Spanish-speaking family interviewed afterward said they got a tornado alert on their cellphone in English but ignored it because they didn't understand it, he said. When the same alert came in Spanish, they quickly sought shelter, he said. 'It saved their life,' said Trujillo-Falcón. Trujillo-Falcón said weather alerts used to be translated by forecasters that spoke more than one language, a task that could be 'completely overwhelming' on top of their forecasting duties. The translations are important for more than extreme weather events, said Andrew Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University. General weather forecasts are essential for a number of sectors including tourism, transportation and energy. Families and businesses can make more informed decisions when they can get weather information that often includes actions that should be taken based on the forecast. Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there are many people in the U.S. that function with limited English relevant to their daily routines. For example, a shopkeeper might be able to have short conversations with customers, but might not have the same understanding when it comes to reading weather or climate terminologies. 'If they don't have access to that National Weather Service information in the different languages, that could be the difference between life and death for somebody,' said Mendoza-Denton. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
