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False Tsunami Warning Sent To the East Coast, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean (nbcnews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the oh,-no-not-that-one dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Some residents along the East Coast received a false tsunami warning on Tuesday morning after a private company sent out an alert following a monthly test by the National Weather Service. A tweet from the National Weather Service (NWS) in Charleston, South Carolina, said the alert was sent around 8:30 a.m. ET. "We have been notified that some users received this test message as an actual Tsunami Warning," the NWS tweeted, adding that a tsunami warning was "not in effect." In a statement to NBC News, the NWS said that a routine test was sent out and that the agency is investigating why it was communicated as an actual tsunami.

51 comments

  1. time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    time for new hardware when your old text-to-speech system is played over old analog lines it sounds like shit.

    1. Re:time for new hardware text-to-speech system by tripleevenfall · · Score: 0

      Does every one of these emergency agencies have a bunch of Homer Simpsons manning the control panels? Sheesh.

    2. Re:time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Does every one of these emergency agencies have a bunch of Homer Simpsons manning the control panels? Sheesh.

      Either that, or hackers are really sending these messages and the "oops we pressed the wrong button" crap is just a cover up... ... ooooh a new conspiracy theory.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      vent radioactive gas y/n?

    4. Re: time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Working for the NWS requires at least a B.S. in meteorology or an equivalent degree. There's quite a bit of math and physics involved. These people aren't morons. Each NWS office issues hundreds of alerts each year, if not more. These include products like tornado warnings, which must be issued quickly and accurately in order to save lives. While there is a high false alarm rate for tornado warnings, it's due to the current limitations of the science and the desire to have a high probability of detection. It is not forecaster error, and if there were real problems, you'd hear about them a lot given that thousands of tornado warnings are issued each year.

      NWS alerts have a header that defines the type of warning and where it's in effect. My guess is that tsunami warnings aren't frequent, even for Hawaii, Alaska, and the west coast. This company probably had a glitch in their software that didn't parse that header correctly and sent it out a false alert. The NWS does update how it issues warnings from time to time, and although they try to support legacy systems, it's possible something didn't get updated properly. One example was the transition to polygon warnings for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms rather than warning entire counties. It reduces false alarms by not warning entire counties when only a small area of that county is at risk. This is a good thing, but it could break legacy systems that were designed for county-based warnings. If I had to guess what went wrong, that would be my first guess.

    5. Re: time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And just to clarify, when I say false alarm rate, I don't mean something like the false tsunami alert where there's no tsunami. It's a term used in forecast verification, and I'm referring to when there's a meteorological reason to issue a tornado warning (like strong radar-indicated rotation) but no tornado actually occurs. The NWS is absolutely correct to issue the warning, but it's referred to as a false alarm because no tornado occurred. A hit is a successful warning, a miss is when the event (like a tornado) occurs and no warning was issued, and a false alarm is when a warning is issued but the event didn't occur.

      If there's a major earthquake in Japan, it's completely reasonable to issue a tsunami warning for Hawaii and the west coast. If that tsunami doesn't acctially occur, it's a false alarm -- but one that's issued for a good reason. This, however, was inexcusable, though I'm not entirely surprised that AccuWeather would make such a mistake. This is a company that has offered weather forecasts out 40 days, even though we most certainly can't predict the weather with any skill at a lead time even close to that.

    6. Re:time for new hardware text-to-speech system by slipped_bit · · Score: 1

      "Venting prevents ex-plo-si-on."

    7. Re: time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Iâ(TM)d rather the thing blow up then vent radioactive gas. Radiation wonâ(TM)t be an issue is the reactor just blows up

    8. Re:time for new hardware text-to-speech system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      y/n and not yes/no? It looks like you've already tripled your productivity!!!

  2. False? by easyTree · · Score: 1

    Or someone forgot to press the giant button on the star-wars-program tsunami-generator ?

    --
    Requiem for the American Dream
  3. Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! by sehlat · · Score: 1

    Ignore it, they keep screwing up. (glub)

  4. Fired Hawaii EMA technician got a new job by bigmacx · · Score: 4, Funny

    The NWS must not have checked his references. At least they are consistent about the ~30 minute later "Oopsy, we made a bad"

    1. Re:Fired Hawaii EMA technician got a new job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is what I just tried to post! :/

  5. Better than false nukes by OffTheLip · · Score: 1

    Still does not inspire confidence in these critical systems.

  6. Obligatory xkcd quote: by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

    TornadoGuard!

  7. Boy Who Cried Wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is an apt analogy. At this point, with two false warnings in as many months, who's going to bother. This is the true definition of "fake news."

    1. Re:Boy Who Cried Wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, "false alarm".
      Ignore the rats leaving the ship.
      Nothing to see here, move along...

  8. Fraud! We've been cheated! by Hartree · · Score: 1

    Dammit, if I get a tsunami warning, I better get my tsunami!

    Who do I complain to about this?!

  9. MY phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't want your Amber Alerts, Traffic Alerts, Missile Alerts, Tsunami alert or any other kind of message unless I specifically asked for it directly.

    When our carrier or government just starts sending stuff to us, it's like my computer just deciding to go to a web page because somebody else wants me to go look at something. it's not acceptable.

    My phone belongs to me and any signal sent to me that is not welcomed will be viewed as an electronic attack and a measured response will be in order.

    1. Re:MY phone by adolf · · Score: 1, Funny

      My phone belongs to me and any signal sent to me that is not welcomed will be viewed as an electronic attack and a measured response will be in order.

      This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

      https://www.law.cornell.edu/cf...

      HTH. HAND. GTFOML.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    2. Re:MY phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oooooh a 'measured response', man the lifeboats kids!

  10. Goverment incomeptence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another great example of how the goverment fails us all. We need to dismantle it one peice at a time and whatever is left drown in a bathtub.

    1. Re: Goverment incomeptence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is not government incompetence. The NWS properly issued a test. AccuWeather, a private company based on Pennsylvania, incorrectly relayed the test as an actual warning.

      Occasionally, members of Congress will propose privatizing more aspects of the National Weather Service. These members of Congress tend to be from Pennsylvania, where AccuWeather is located. You're directing your criticism in absolutely the wrong place.

      I'll gladly criticize the NWS when it's warranted. It's not warranted here. The NWS did nothing wrong.

  11. Because some people didn't understand J/K by mysidia · · Score: 1

    "Tsunami warning everybody.. J/K"

    Some people didn't realize that J/K means for realsies.

  12. Accuweather by supernova87a · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why would Accuweather (the company who sent this) want the liability and burden of being responsible for (or even touching anything to do with) sending a life-or-death tsunami warning? Would you, as a company say "ok, the National Weather Service sends these things out, let's let them handle this the whole way"? Why would you think it good to take on that role?

    1. Re:Accuweather by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The executives can grant themselves nice bonuses for bringing in a lucrative government contract; if something goes wrong the absolutely worst result would be a golden parachute or two.

    2. Re: Accuweather by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like media outlets, other conpanies like these have a valuable role in partnering with the NWS to get alerts out to people who otherwise wouldn't receive them. There would probably be far more liability in issuing warnings than in relaying them, especially if they have appropriate disclaimers to protect themselves if there's downtime. I have no problem with AccuWeather passing along warnings, and that would be the least of my criticisms of that company. I have a much bigger problem with them providing bogus 40 day forecasts, far beyond what is possible with the current state of the science. I have a much bigger problem with them lobbying to restrict the services that the NWS can provide so that more aspects of weather forecasting get privatized. I despise AccuWeather, but this is the least of my issues with that company.

    3. Re:Accuweather by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Accu- implies something. I wonder what.

    4. Re: Accuweather by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The tsunami warning contract people don't want golden parachutes. They want pairs of yachts and Mountain cabins.

  13. Yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wanted Sue Nammi to come! I even bought flowers for her!

  14. How to perform a test by holophrastic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Step one: disconnect the outside from the inside. Big toggle switch on the wall, itty bitty network jack gets torn out. We call this: network isolation. You can easily build this into your testing software. If google.com is reachable, don't send tests.

    Step two: announce it in-advance. Tomorrow, at noon, precisely sixteen hours from now, we'll be running a test. It'll say "missile carried by tsunami". There will only be one test. It will specifically not say "seriously really". We call this: planning ahead. Again, you can easily build this into your testing software. If there's no record of an announcement, don't send tests.

    Step three: non-accidental confirmation. Tests can be sent with the push of a button. Real-world warnings require a human being to type the words "send real warning to EVERYONE". It's not case-sensitive, and three type-o's are permitted. Again again, you can easily build this into your testing software. "Click OK" is replaced by "type this phrase" -- and specifically not for tests.

    Step four: two heads are better than one. Tests can be sent by one human. Real-world warnings require a second human to do the same things as the first human, within the same few minutes. Again, easily built into your software. A single command is ignored, two commands are executed.

    Two in four weeks is not only intolerable, but it's actually more painful than the actual events would have been. I don't know how many death-bed confessions occurred in hawaii, and I can't imagine the health results of that kind of stress on an entire population. But I do know one thing very well: notification fatigue completely destroys the future. How many Hawaiians will simply ignore it next time, and die as a result?

    1. Re:How to perform a test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking as somebody who has setup centers like this: Thats a lot of code that only ever gets executed in a real world situation. Javascript error/validation errors in your "type this phrase box?" yea great.. now you can successfully drill but can't actually send an alert in a real world. Any difference in drill and real event is something that can not be tested to know it still works so the goal is to have 0 of them. And disconnecting a network port only works if the software that sends the alerts is actually in the building, which it isn't. ever.

    2. Re:How to perform a test by holophrastic · · Score: 1

      Sure, but...

      I'm going to argue that these systems aren't notification systems. They are specifically systems for NOT notifying people erroneously. Otherwise, we don't need to run any tests ever. When someone says "push the button", you push the button. Training over.

      Second, you can unplug that network port in the other building. That would actually cover the second human also.

      You can't say that testing is required, and that testing shouldn't notify the real world, and that testing shouldn't be any different than non-testing. As usual, you get to pick any two.

      Quite frankly, I'm really happy with step two as the single solution. Don't have any testing systems at all. Just say: "tomorrow, we're going to push the button for fun", and let everyone get the test -- cradle-to-grave testing, as it were.

      But if tests aren't going to test the complete system (right down to the public receiving the message), then your test system needs to be different than your real system, probably in many ways.

      Now, if you don't know how to program a javascript validation in my "type this phrase" in a way that's both testable and reliable, then you need to hire better programmers. I can certainly screw up a good javascript function on the first pass, but we're not launching rockets here. We're comparing strings. I'll get it right within an hour, if not a minute.

  15. That Was Quick by tsqr · · Score: 1

    I didn't know that the guy from Hawaii found another job so fast.

    1. Re:That Was Quick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HI is ruled so hard by Republicans that you just know it was Trump's fault that a Hillary supporter decided to do the fake warning and then refuse to talk to the FCC.

  16. Re:Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ouch!
    Fun Creimer fact:
    Multiple bots scrape Metamoderation voting him down.
    Anyone who mods him up is assured to receive fewer mod points in the future!
    QQ :( ; ;

  17. Re:Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Creimertard. Mod down.

  18. The least the could do ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    ... for a system test is to sent a Zombie Alert. People who take it seriously can just stay in their backyard bomb shelters. Good riddance. We won't be sending the 'All Clear'.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:The least the could do ... by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      oh noes they'll be shooting at people who walk funny and grunt, Tom Hardy would be a goner.

    2. Re:The least the could do ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does that mean, then, that by staying out in public you're declaring yourself to be a legitimate target to me.

  19. Re:Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fun Creimer fact: He is auto-modded -1, so nobody sees a creimer post except people who are specifically here to make fun of him.

  20. Re:Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They picked you up on radar and thought a TU-95 was heading towards the US coast!

    But when they saw it was heading towards the all you can eat buffet, they said "It's just Chris again".

    Crisis averted!

  21. Form of terrorism. 'nuff said. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If this is not just the result of news agencies now looking for such events, but actually a new thing, that there are suddenly so many cases of this "accidentially" happening, it becomes more and more likely, that this is not an accident at all.

    Fearmongering is one of the biggest staples of the ruling class, to keep the livestock in check.
    This is just too convenient and too much of a coincidence.

    Let's see if there will be more of those, and things similar to them ...

  22. 'Woosh' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sorry-

  23. Fake News! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was a Fake Tsunami. All Tsunami are fake, they are a product of sinister Deep Geology.

    Also, volcanoes and earthquakes are fake. Sad!

  24. Re:Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Creimer is still considered as a threat by the US military since he destroyed Edwards Air Force Base just by passing by...

    Here is the story of creimy the mountain and his royalties!

    This story was inspired by cdreimer, the parent poster. The story was written by a visionary on cdreimer birth date.

    The story of creimy the mountain explained:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Creimy is a typical mountain who poses for postcards, living with his wife Ethel, a tree, between the cities of Rosamund and Gorman, California. The main features on his mountainous face are two large caves, resembling eyes, and a cliff for a jaw, which moves up and down when he talks, puffing up dust and boulders.
    click above link to read more, he even destroyed Edwards Air Force Base just by passing by...

    Listen to the audio version here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    "Creimy The Mountain"

    includes quotes from Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major (Edward Elgar), Johnny's Theme (Paul Anka), Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder (Crawford), O Mein Papa (Paul Burkhard), Over The Rainbow (Harburg/Arlen), Star-Spangled Banner (Smith/Key), Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills)

    One, two, three

    CREIMY the Mountain
    CREIMY the Mountain
    A regular picturesque
    Postcardy mountain
    Residing between lovely
    Rosamond and Gorman
    With his stunning wife ETHELL, A tree! A tree!

    CREIMY was a mountain ETHELL was a tree Growing off of his shoulder

    CREIMY was a mountain
    (CREIMY was a mountain!)
    ETHELL was a tree Growing off of his shoulder
    (ETHELL was a tree growing off of his shoulder)
    (hey, hey hey!)

    Creimy had two big
    Caves for eyes,
    With a cliff for a jaw
    That would go up 'n down,
    And whenever it did,
    He'd puff out some dust,
    And hack up a boulder (HACK!) Hack up a boulder (HACK! HACK!)
    Hack up a boulder (HACK! HACK! HACK!) Up a boulder

    Now, one day, now I believe it was on a Tuesday, a man in a checkered double-knit suit drove up in a large El Dorado Cadillac, leased from BOB SPREEN

    ("Where the freeways meet in Downey!")

    And he laid a HUGE, BULGING ENVELOPE right at the corner of CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN, that was right where his 'foot' was supposed to be.

    Now, CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN, he couldn't believe it! All those postcards he'd posed for, for ALL OF THOSE YEARS, and finally, now, AT LAST, his Royalties!

    Royalties! Royalties Royalties! Royalty check is in, honey!

    Yes, CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN was RICH! Yes, and his eyeball-caves, they widened in amazement, and his jaw (which was a cliff), well it dropped thirty feet!

    A bunch of dust puffed out! Rocks and boulders hacked up, (hack! hack!) crushing 'The LINCOLN'!

    I gave him the money He acted real funny He hocked up a rock and It TOTALLED my car!

    Oh, do you Know any trucks Might be bound for THE VALLEY?
    I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar (Dear Lord)

    I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar (No shit!)

    I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar!

    By two o'clock, when the bars are already closed down, CREIMY had broken 'THE BIG NEWS' to ETHELL. And with dust and boulders everywhere, CREIMY, choked with excitement, announced

    "ETHELL, we're going on a VACATION!"

    Yes, and they WERE going on a vacation! (Oh, and ETHELL, ETHELL, ETHELL, like every little woman, she of course was very excited! She creaked a little bit, and some old birds flew off of her.) CREIMY told ETHELL they were going to Yes! They were going to NEW YORK!

    "ETHELL, we're going to New York!"

    But first they were gonna stop in LAS VEGAS

    It's off to LAS VEGAS to check out the lounges Pull a few handles,
    And drink a few beers, (Oh, ETHELL!)

    ETHELL, my darling, you know that I love you!
    I'm glad we could have a Vacation this ye

  25. Simple way out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just end all your messages with "This is not a drill, exercise, exercise" and you're safe.