National Weather Service AI Hallucination Creates Fake Idaho Towns
The National Weather Service posted AI-generated weather forecast maps for Idaho that contained hallucinated town names including "Whata Bod" and "Orangeotild." The agency confirmed the errors resulted from generative AI use in creating the map base and removed the posts after flagging.
What happened
The National Weather Service office in Pocatello, Idaho posted an AI-generated snowfall forecast map for Camas Prairie that contained fabricated town names including 'Whata Bod' and 'Orangeotild,' alongside spelling and geographical errors.
NWS spokeswoman Erica Grow Cei confirmed that 'a local office used AI to create a base map to display forecast information, however the map inadvertently displayed illegible city names.' The map was removed and posts corrected on Monday.
Reported impact
The error sparked online amusement and serious discussions about AI reliability in critical government operations. Experts worry that without properly trained officials, mistakes could erode public trust in the agency and the technology.
Index analysis
The AI system hallucinated plausible but entirely false town names, drawing from incomplete or noisy datasets rather than actual Idaho locations. A November 2025 forecast from the Rapid City, South Dakota NWS office also contained misspelled locations.
Governance controls
NWS stated that AI is not commonly used for public-facing content and its use is not prohibited. The agency said it is 'exploring strategic ways to continue optimizing our service delivery' including AI implementation and will 'carefully evaluate results' and 'discontinue use in scenarios where AI is not effective.'
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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