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August 10, 2018

Statement RE: Today's Miscoded Hurricane Test Warning

AccuWeather Global Headquarters - August 10, 2018 - This afternoon at 12:37 p.m. EDT AccuWeather passed on a hurricane warning for the southeastern U.S. that was intended to be an internal government test, but the government's computer coding did not so indicate it was a test and it was inadvertently distributed externally by AccuWeather's computer system when AccuWeather received the warning. The internal test was redistributed not only by AccuWeather on its AccuWeather app and AccuWeather.com website, but by other weather providers that also pass on government warnings.

There is no hurricane warning in effect for the southeastern U.S.

This is not the first time that computer coding issues have triggered warnings that were intended to be only internal government tests. Once it was discovered that the incorrectly coded warning was false, AccuWeather sent messages via social channels that no hurricane warning is in effect for the southeastern part of the US.

The Superior Accuracy and the reliability of our weather forecasts and severe weather warnings are of the utmost importance to AccuWeather and to our users to keep them safe and out of harm's way and to make the best possible decisions when severe weather is concerned.

We are gratified there is no severe weather threat to the southeast at this time, and we are continuing to work with NWS to determine why this coding error occurred and to prevent such severe weather warnings in future.

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