Tsunami Alerts May Get Delayed, Not as Accurate for Oregon / Washington Coast

Published 11/22/25 at 9:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Tsunami alerts will likely no longer be in real time along the Washington coast and Oregon coastline, as funding for a good number of seismic warning stations was cut last month. (Above Tillamook Head, Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

The result is any tsunami warning off the western U.S. / Canadian shoreline could be inaccurate and delayed by critical minutes. Nine of the 250 stations in Alaska are getting switched off at the end of November, which will likely lead to serious lags in data and decision-making on whether or not to issue a tsunami warning.

The NOAA National Tsunami Warning Center said it only has about five minutes to determine if an earthquake in the Alaska region can cause a tsunami. Depending on where that quake originated, those in coastline communities could have minutes to maybe a few hours to get out. This muddled data, the center said, could also cause them to punch the evacuation button when it doesn't need to happen.

It's these layers of uncertainty that Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell is railing against with a letter to NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs.

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“On Washington’s coast, a tsunami generated by the Cascadia Subduction Zone could hit communities in 15-30 minutes,” Cantwell wrote. “Any potential delays in life saving information puts our communities at risk.”

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The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Earthquake Center (AEC) owns the seismic stations, which are operated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Funding was cut off a month ago, but the AEC was still providing data streams to the NOAA National Tsunami Warning Center. NOAA shut down a $300,000 grant for the stations, and when the university discovered there would be no money for the stations coming in fiscal year 2026, they decided to turn them off at the end of November.

While there are still 250 stations around the region, these nine were critical in giving real-time data for any earthquake that may happen nearby. Other stations don't always transmit data that is quite as immediate. Also, there are no other stations close to where most of these nine are.

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Senator Cantwell said the earthquake center has tracked seismic activity for more than 25 years, but now information may not reach them in time. Nearly a decade ago, she sponsored the Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act, requiring NOAA to work with the U.S. Geological Survey and National Science Foundation to ensure officials can deliver timely and reliable tsunami forecasts.

Cantwell is pressing Dr. Jacobs to create a plan to restore real-time reporting in Alaska and other coastal regions vulnerable to seismic events.

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NOAA itself has so far been silent on the funding cuts, but the decision was made as part of the administration's major budget cuts earlier this year, with many aimed at the National Weather Service and NOAA.

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