BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley should be weather aware on Saturday, forecasters warn.
“The environment will favor storm organization, with the strongest storms capable of producing damaging wind gusts and sporadic instances of hail,” the National Weather Service said in its latest forecast discussion.
“An isolated tornado is not entirely out of the question,” the discussion said, with the “greatest chance for storm development this afternoon” across Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey, primarily northwest of Interstate 95.
The Lehigh Valley is at a slight risk (2 out of 5) of severe storms, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
It said organized cells and storm clusters may develop during the afternoon from the northern Mid-Atlantic into southern New England.
Timing for the storm threat is from 3 to 10 p.m., the weather service said.
NWS no longer translating
“Have multiple ways to receive warnings,” the NWS Mount Holly forecast office said on X.
It’s the first severe storm threat in the region with potential for isolated tornadoes since the NWS halted its automated language translation services for weather alerts and forecasts because of a lapsed contract with the provider.
That means non-English speakers may no longer get weather information in their native language.
Showers and thunderstorms are expected to move in later today, continuing into the night. Primary threat will be damaging wind gusts, especially north and west of the I-95 corridor. Have multiple ways to receive warnings and when thunder roars, go indoors! #NJwx #PAwx #MDwx #DEwx pic.twitter.com/WY5E8P1KXD
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) May 3, 2025
The NWS previously translated alerts into Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Chinese and Samoan.
While initially described as a “pause” in translation services, the translations were stopped on March 31 and have not resumed.
Experts say it could put non-English speakers at risk of missing potentially life-saving warnings about extreme weather.
Lilt, an artificial intelligence company, began providing translations in late 2023, replacing manual translations that the weather service had said were labor-intensive and not sustainable, according to the Associated Press.
The contract lapse came as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to slash spending at federal agencies, including cuts within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that have led to high employee vacancy rates at NWS offices.
For non-English speakers, CodeRED
Nearly 68 million people in the United States speak a language other than English at home, including more than 42 million Spanish speakers, according to the latest Census data.
That includes a significant part of the Lehigh Valley's population.
There are few alternatives to get translated weather warnings for the area, but one is CodeRED.
It's a community emergency notification system to alert residents and visitors of an emergency or incident, or during situations that may warrant community notification.CodeRED
It's a community emergency notification system to alert residents and visitors of an emergency or incident, or during situations that may warrant community notification.
Allentown Emergency Management coordinates CodeRED, and it’s also available through other municipalities, as well as through Lehigh and Northampton counties.
However, a global communications representative from GardaWorld media, parent company of OnSolve, which runs Code Red, said foreign language translation is an optional service and may not be available in all areas that use the system.
“For details related to the specific alert systems and user bases or demographics of a particular county we encourage you to contact those municipalities directly,” the representative said.
