NWS issues test message for tsunami warning

A test message for a tsunami warning was issued Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Services of Charleston and Miami.

A monthly Tsunami Warning test was issued around 830 am 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 #chswx #gawx #savwx #scwx

— NWS Charleston, SC (@NWSCharlestonSC) February 6, 2018

904AM: A Tsunami Warning was mistakenly sent by an app. There is no Tsunami Warning in effect. It was just a Tsunami test message.

— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) February 6, 2018

The National Weather Service in Miami sent an additional tweet at 9:04 a.m. relaying the message the warning was a test message.

“I was sitting in the living room and little notification comes on my phone and says tsunami warning,” Cape Coral resident David Hood said.

Collier County Emergency Management took to Twitter to inform residents of the test message:

If you received a notification for a Tsunami Warning, it was meant to be a test by the NOAA Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska as part of planned monthly tests. To be clear, there is NO Tsunami Warning in effect.

— Collier County Emergency Management (@CollierEM) February 6, 2018

Weather apps like AccuWeather said the tsunami warning was miscoded by the National Weather Service as a real warning and the responsibility is on the National Weather Service to properly and consistently code the messages.

After the false missile alert in Hawaii earlier this year, Hood said the notification left him with one thing on his mind.

“This must be somebody pushing the wrong button again,” Hood said.

AccuWeather is continuing to work with the National Weather Service to determine why the coding was improperly embedded in its test alert system.