The National Weather Service will resume translation services for non-English speakers starting Monday, reversing a controversial cut that came earlier this month.

The agency paused the service after a contract with an AI company lapsed, which replaced human translators in 2023 because the NWS said the role was too labor-intensive.

The company provided translations in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Samoan.

There are 42 million Spanish speakers in the U.S., and another 26 million who speak another language other than English at home, according to census data. 

The potentially life-saving warnings include alerts for non-native English speakers about catastrophic weather events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis.