The National Weather Service and a private forecasting company are blaming each other for a false tsunami alert sent to users’ mobile phones this morning, the latest in a spate of false alarms since last month.
The National Tsunami Warning Center sent a test message around 8:30 a.m. today. Users of the popular AccuWeather app then got a false tsunami alert. The message was sent to users throughout the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
The tsunami warning center is part of the National Weather Service, which says it’s investigating why the test message was sent as an official warning. The false alert didn’t appear on any of its communication channels, the weather service says.
AccuWeather says the weather service “miscoded” a test message as a real warning. Users of the popular AccuWeather app then got a false tsunami alert.
