Users of some mobile apps received what looked like a real warning, but there’s confusion over whose fault it was

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

People along America’s east coast were alerted to the threat of a tsunami on Tuesday morning – only to then be told that the warning message had been sent in error.

Hawaii missile false alarm due to badly designed user interface, reports say Read more

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for Miami, Charleston and elsewhere at around 8.30am. The weather app Accuweather picked up on the message and sent out a mobile alert to subscribers.

“Tsunami warning in effect,” the alert said, adding the name of the recipient’s location. “Source: US National Weather Service”.

There was confusion on Tuesday morning over who exactly had bungled the message. The US Tsunami Warning Center was quick to absolve itself from blame:

NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) The National Tsunami Warning Center did NOT issue a tsunami Warning, Watch, or Advisory for any part of the United States or Canada this morning.

The NWS New York office said it was investigating how a test message was sent out as a warning.

NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) ***THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING***



A Tsunami Test was conducted earlier this morning, that did have TEST in the message. We are currently trying to find out how a message went out as a warning. We will update you when we find out more.

Meteorologist Hendricus Lulofs said there was a glitch during a routine test, which meant users of some mobile apps received what looked like an actual warning.

Last month Hawaii residents were told there was an incoming ballistic missile barreling towards the state. Hawaii authorities sent an emergency alert to cellphones which read: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”



It later emerged that a Hawaii state worker had sent out the alert after believing an internal drill was real. The man has since been fired.



The NWS and news organizations were quick to correct the error and assure people there was no incoming tsunami. But the proximity of the Hawaii missile message to the tsunami warning was not lost on internet users.

I. B. Wright 🇺🇸 (@YouAreWrong2017) I guess the guy from Hawaii got a new job on the east coast. Tsunami warning