The longest tenured meteorologist in south Florida is sounding the alarm on Hurricane Milton, warning of the storm’s strength as it hits Category 5 status.
John Morales had trouble keeping his composure on Miami’s NBC 6 Monday morning, pointing out that the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, and climate change is the reason for the stronger hurricane.
“It is just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico, where you can imagine, the seas are just so incredibly, incredibly hot, a record hot, as you might imagine,” Morales said. “You know what’s driving that, I don’t need to tell you: Global warming, climate change leading to this and becoming an increasing threat for the Yucatan, including Merida, and Progreso, and other areas there.”
Morales has seen many natural disasters in his nearly three decades of experience, but his voice was shaking as he was describing how the hurricane would affect viewers in south Florida.
“[E]ven though it is expected to weaken on approach, it is so incredibly strong right now that you’re going to find it very difficult for it to be nothing less than a major hurricane when it makes landfall in Florida,” Morales said.
➡️ NOW: An emotional hurricane #Milton update from @JohnMoralesTV as the storm hits Cat. 5 status.
— CHRIS HUSH (@ChrisHushNBC) October 7, 2024
Take this seriously.
We have you covered here on @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/QEe3E25JGX
Later, on X, Morales explained how “extreme weather driven by global warming has changed me. Frankly, YOU should be shaken too, and demand #ClimateActionNow,” and linked back to an article he wrote for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on how such hurricanes aren’t outliers anymore.
The center of Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which hasn’t witnessed a storm of its nature in at least a century. Climate change is going to make these kinds of storms stronger, with no regard to which countries and communities get hit. It’s good to see a meteorologist taking the risk seriously and refusing to sugar-coat what causes extreme storms, but unfortunately, politicians have not been as forthright. While Donald Trump proudly plans to dismantle critical hurricane infrastructure, Kamala Harris and the rest of the Democrats have not boldly made a case for climate action. Maybe they should look to Morales for inspiration.
