The National Weather Service, much like Austin Powers when emerging from his frozen state, has had a problem controlling THE VOLUME OF ITS VOICE.

Since before the Civil War, the NWS has used all caps for its weather reports. Just as a police officer yells HALT or Joe Castiglione shouts GRAND SLAM, the reports screamed DRIZZLE! The practice dates from the days of the teleprinter (seriously), and the NWS must have finally gotten tired of hitting the “upgrade later’’ prompt.

The change is a welcome one for those of us who study each dispatch. After all, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS comes across the wires with the same grammatical urgency as LIFE THREATENING FLOODS. It’s a win for both the sender and receiver. Plus, not being yelled at consistently should lower blood pressure nationwide.

To be fair to our weather service colleagues — our local office is in Taunton — part of the reason for the delayed upgrade is customers. The technology to lower-case has been available for many years, but some customers still use equipment that runs on teletype technology. Upgrades to the weather service’s Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System software will finally allow everyone to still get the same bulletins, just without all the screaming.

The switch will take place on May 11, but let’s not be too hasty! Not all of the products will change at once. Severe thunderstorm warnings will still scream until this summer, while some other products (mainly international) won’t change over until next year, if ever.

While the typical reader may mock this vestigial holdover, weather enthusiasts may find themselves pining for the good old days. In weather centers around the country, including WBZ, many crusty old meteorologists (read: over 30 years old) remember waiting for weather models to slowly print out during the live 11 p.m. newscast.

With so much data online today, perhaps a “slow weather’’ movement will one day return to fashion.

But fear not, your dependable weather service isn’t leaving the traditionalists in the dust. I’d wager the emoji-cast is still in prototype stage and decades away. It’s a brave new world our children will enjoy, hopefully one full of sunny skies.

Eric Fisher is the chief meteorologist at WBZ-TV in Boston.