Miami Meteorologist Gets Emotional Talking About Hurricane Milton, Climate Change

Miami meteorologist John Morales struggled to fight back tears on Monday as he informed viewers that Hurricane Milton had intensified to a Category 5 storm.

“It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane,” he said on NBC Miami, choking on his words as he described the storm’s catastrophic drop in pressure over a 10-hour period. “I apologize. This is just — horrific.”

As the storm churned over record-hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Milton grew from a Category 1 to Category 5 hurricane in just 18 hours — a phenomenon known as “rapid intensification” that scientists say is becoming increasingly common due to climate change.

“It is just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico, where you can imagine the seas are just so incredibly, incredibly hot,” Morales said on the air. “Record hot, as you might imagine. You know what’s driving that. I don’t need to tell you — global warming, climate change leading to this.”

Fossil-fuel-driven climate change is causing the world’s oceans to rapidly warm. Warm water acts as jet fuel for tropical storms, allowing them to quickly gain strength.

In a subsequent post on X (formerly Twitter), Morales said he debated whether to share a video of his emotional update about the hurricane.

“I did apologize on the air,” he wrote. “But I invite you to read my introspection on @BulletinAtomic of how extreme weather driven by global warming has changed me. Frankly, YOU should be shaken too, and demand <a href=«https://x.com/hashtag/ClimateActionNow?src=hashtag_click» role=«link» class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name=" #ClimateActionNow" data-vars-item-type=«text» data-vars-unit-name=«670431ffe4b0924ce9db16b0» data-vars-unit-type=«buzz_body»