For 167 years, the National Weather Service has delivered its forecasts, watches warnings, and related dispatches in ALL CAPS. Starting May 11, it will phase out this practice and introduce mixed-case characters in its communications.

“LISTEN UP! BEGINNING ON MAY 11, NOAA’S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTS WILL STOP YELLING AT YOU,” the Weather Service news release announcing the change begins.

The Weather Service’s use of all caps has been a curiosity in the modern age. Its constituents — i.e. the U.S. public — have frequently wondered why in the world they are being shouted at. How condescending!

But this long-standing practice has been necessary because teleprinters, which only use capital letters, were the legacy systems for transmitting this information.

Although technology long ago became available to phase out all caps, the Weather Service had some customers using equipment tied to teletype so it was unable to completely modernize its systems and still serve them.

“Recent software upgrades to the computer system that forecasters use to produce weather predictions, called AWIPS 2 (the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System), are allowing for the change to mixed-case letters,” the Weather Service said. “The switch will happen on May 11, after the required 30-day notification period to give customers adequate time to prepare for the change.”

BEGINNING ON MAY 11, @NOAA’S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTS WILL STOP YELLING AT YOU. https://t.co/4YjdvUdWxj pic.twitter.com/SAgbtUMMEp — NWS (@NWS) April 11, 2016

Not all Weather Service products will lose the ALL CAPS on May 11. The transition to mixed-case characters for thunderstorm warnings won’t occur until summer and some forecasts and warnings won’t change until early next year.

And some may not ever change. “Certain forecast products with international implications, such as aviation and shipping, will continue to use upper case letters, per international agreements that standardize weather product formats across national borders,” the Weather Service said.

For those nostalgic for all caps, the Weather Service says it intends to keep using them for emphasis during “extremely dangerous situations.”

Media outlets far and wide have had great fun covering this story, but the prize for the finest goes to BuzzFeed for this snark-filled distillation of the news: