A false tsunami warning was sent out this morning after a routine monthly test was mistakenly sent out as a push notification by weather apps. The message was sent out to people on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The message was intended to go to state warning points and other government agencies but some news and weather services picked the test message up and posted it on their apps. They did not make plain that the message was a test.
The National Weather Services posted a message on social media clarifying the test status of the message roughly forty minutes after the original notification was sent.
A monthly Tsunami Warning TEST was issued at 828 am EST by @NWS_NTWC. We have been notified that some users received this TEST message as an actual Tsunami Warning. A Tsunami Warning is NOT in effect. Repeat, a Tsunami Warning is NOT in effect. #FLwx #FLKeys #KeyWest
— NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) February 6, 2018
The false alarm comes less than a month after one was issued in Hawaii, for an incoming ballistic missile, and in Japan for an incoming missile from North Korea.