The statewide tornado drill concluded Tuesday with some Kansas residents confused by the alert they received on their phones.
The warning received by many appeared to be an actual severe weather event with no mention that it was a test. The National Weather Service issued an apology minutes after it was issued. Screenshots were tweeted out by the Wichita office showing the full text of the announcement and how many times the word TEST was included in the messaging. It says what appears on cell phones is out of their control.
Many of you received a Wireless Emergency Alert that alerted your phone to a TORNADO WARNING! This was part of Severe Weather Awareness Week and simply a TEST! We apologize for any inconvenience and confusion. #kswx
— NWS Topeka (@NWSTopeka) March 2, 2021
The Weather Service says the new code for a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Handler, implemented last week, mistakenly allowed the test to go over Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) as an actual warning. This was unintentional.
Here is the complete text of the warning that was sent from NWS Wichita this morning. Note the number of times that TEST was included. What appears on cell phones is beyond our control. #kswx pic.twitter.com/zZsOrbkAhy
— NWS Wichita (@NWSWichita) March 2, 2021
The agency’s headquarters issued the following tweet just after noon Tuesday indicating a software malfunction caused the message to mistakenly be sent as an actual warning.
New software implemented last week mistakenly allowed the test to go out over WEA as an actual warning. The software is fixed.
(For reference: https://t.co/Z0u7NJHxjG) https://t.co/yc7eyT3YE0
— National Weather Service (@NWS) March 2, 2021
The event was part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, which continues through Friday.
Kansas averages 95 tornadoes per year but last year only saw 17 documented tornadoes.
