NWS Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley Warnings and Forecasts In Spanish

NWS Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley is Improving Messaging to Spanish Language Communities!

In late 2023, an experimental effort was launched by the National Weather Service to use AI language software to translate warning and forecast text information into multiple languages common to a growing population across the United States and its territories. Initial languages include Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and American Samoan. A dozen offices across the United States and its territories, along with the National Hurricane Center, were part of the initial effort for Spanish translation. In early 2024, NWS Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley was added to the group. New York City, Baltimore/Washington, and Burlington, Vermont, are test sites for basic Chinese; Pago-Pago (American Samoa) for Samoan, and New York City for Vietnamese. Additional offices are expected to come online in 2024.

Information translated include all critical weather severe weather hazards (tornado, windstorms, flash floods) as well as longer-duration hazards for heat, cold, winter weather, coastal impacts, and more. Watches, warnings, and advisories are also available on a hazards map. When there are no hazardous weather messages, routine forecasts can be translated daily. These include land and marine forecasts and the surf zone forecast. The Coastal Waters Forecast translation into Spanish is shown and linked below.

In the future, we plan to use the software to feed our NOAA Weather Radio Spanish-language stations, and assist in rapid production of slide decks for partner Impact-Based Decision Support Services, as well as rapid-fire social media posts.

How to Use
To begin, click on the image below. This brings up the latest Spanish-translated Coastal Waters Forecast (left side), with the English version on the right. Above the Coastal Waters Forecast (Pronóstico para las Aguas Costeras) you'll see a blue-colored rectangle. To change the text product type, click the down arrow and select from available hazards or forecasts. Active products will show a green date and time (example: 1/30/2024, 356 AM), which means a translation is available. Recently issued - but inactive - hazards will have a gray date and time (example: 1/25/24, 335 AM) but are still available for translation. Listings with no date/time have not been issued recently and will show no translation (Producto no disponible).

When hazards are active, you can select the Hazards Map from the top line of the page (Mapa de peligros) and click on the hazard color for a drop-down translation. Other information is available across the top line, including Product Descriptions (Descripción del Productos), Infographics (Infografías), About this page (Sobre esta página), and a feedback form (Comentario).

A couple more items to note:

Words highlighted in blue have different words for different dialects of Spanish. Click on the word highlighted in blue to see the variations.
The question mark next to the product gives a basic overview of that product in Spanish.

NOAA News Release
National Public Information Statement
National Service Description Document

We Want Your Feedback!
Please consider taking this short survey on our agency-wide translation effort.

Spanish
English

If you have any additional questions/requests, please forward those (general feedback) to nws.translate@noaa.gov.