Here's where things stand after Twitter threatened to block severe weather alerts

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The 74,000 Twitter followers of the National Weather Service forecast office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, represent just a small fraction of the people the office serves.

But it’s those people — many in the forecast area — who were at risk of not seeing the next severe weather alerts from the NWS after Twitter made a decision to limit automated tweets on its platform.

• Twitter originally said it would limit automated tweets on its platform, limiting severe weather alerts
• Late Saturday, Twitter’s development team seemingly lifted the cap and said it would allow the National Weather Service accounts to continue tweeting weather alerts without limits
• Twitter hasn't responded to any media requests for comment except with a poop emoji

Until Saturday, there were no exceptions to that rule — even as severe weather began to pop up across the region.

“Twitter is now limiting automated tweets and as a result this account can no longer post all watches/warnings/advisories as they are issued,” a tweet from NWS Mount Holly said Saturday morning.

“We will continue to provide general updates, but ensure that you have multiple means for receiving weather information and alerts.”

Hours later, severe storms rumbled through the Lehigh Valley, bringing hail and 40 mph winds. A flash flood warning also was issued for Allentown, Bethlehem and surrounding municipalities.

Late that night, Twitter’s development team seemingly lifted the cap and said it would let the National Weather Service accounts continue to tweet weather alerts without limits.

“If you know Public Service accounts that would benefit from a similar exception, advocate for them,” the Twitter Daily News account said.

Reaching the masses

Under its own policy, the NWS uses Twitter as a supplemental channel to improve weather awareness. Tweets from all of its forecast offices are used to highlight information deemed important to the weather community and the public — including severe weather.

Mount Holly’s coverage area alone consists of 10 counties in eastern Pennsylvania, 16 counties in New Jersey, five in Maryland and all three counties in Delaware.

The area includes Philadelphia, Allentown, Atlantic City and Wilmington, and is home to more than 11 million people.

Overall, the NWS operates more than 120 weather forecast offices in six regions and each maintains its own county warning area, or CWA.

When severe weather strikes, or threatens to, the weather service warns its followers through various methods, including automated tweets. That’s because Twitter had long allowed free access to systems that can program these posts.

That’s all changed, as Twitter owner Elon Musk moves the social platform toward more paid features. That means limiting automated tweets to just 1,500 per month for free, or as many as 50,000 for $100 a month.

But the weather service would blow past Twitter’s free threshold during any extreme weather event.

It meant tweets providing weather, hydrologic and climate forecasts and warnings for all NWS forecast offices — including those disseminated for the protection of life and property — would have been curtailed.

The decision has sparked backlash and prompted a petition on Change.org called Stop Twitter from blocking National Weather Service Automated Warnings! Save Lives!

Severe Weather Awareness Week

Monday, April 17, marks the start of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Pennsylvania. The effort comes before the typical onset of thunderstorm and flash flood season and involves coordination among the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, County Emergency Management Officers and the NWS.

Each day during the week emphasizes a different weather hazard and provides associated safety tips.

This year, Severe Weather Awareness Week will cover:

• Severe thunderstorms
• Outlooks, watches and warnings
• Flash flooding 
• Tornadoes
• Ways to become involved

On its website, the weather service advises residents to periodically check local sources for severe weather updates — including NOAA weather radio, local TV and radio and social media.

The concern was that automated weather tweets not only alert people directly, but those tweets are amplified by other accounts retweeting the same information.

It means a much larger audience would have been at risk of not getting potentially life-saving information during severe weather.

Twitter has not responded to any media requests on the matter, and responded to inquiries from outlets like The Washington Post the way it has to any other media requests: with a poop emoji.

"Without this automated process, it would take minutes for forecasters to manually prepare warning information into a tweet. For every warning issued, seconds could make the difference between life and death," said Susan Buchanan, director of public affairs for NWS.

Buchanan said a new issue also emerged when several automated accounts were suspended on Friday, April 14.

"While some of these accounts were reinstated over the weekend, some remained suspended [Monday] morning. None of those accounts had exceeded Twitter's new API limit. Those, and all other NWS accounts, can still manually issue tweets but will face the challenge of timing and staff capacity that the automated tweets do not face."