John Morales, a WTVJ meteorologist, went viral for warning viewers about how cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS) will compromise his ability to accurately predict and track Florida hurricanes—to say nothing of forecasts nationwide.
Morales said the overall quality of weather forecasts across the country is already “becoming degraded” due to recent budget cuts by billionaire Elon Musk's advisory Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and cautioned that hurricane forecasting will likely be the next casualty.
Morales opened the segment with a clip from 2019, showing himself “confidently” assuring viewers that Hurricane Dorian would veer away from Florida just before making landfall.
But now, he warned, the ability to make such confident forecasts is in jeopardy:
"And I am here to tell you that I am not sure I can do that this year, because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general. And what we're starting to see is that the quality of the forecast is becoming degraded."
“Did you know that Central and South Florida weather service offices are basically 20% to 40% understaffed? From Tampa to Key West, including the Miami office. Now, this type of staffing shortage is having impacts across the nation because there’s been nearly [a] 20% reduction in weather balloon releases, launches that carry those radio signs.”
He also commented on the potential grounding of NOAA’s hurricane hunter aircraft and the "multi-generational impact on science in this country":
"There's also a chance, because of some of these cuts, that NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft will not be able to fly this year, and with less reconnaissance missions, we may be flying blind, and we may not exactly know how strong a hurricane is before it reaches the coastline, like happened a couple of years ago in Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, Mexico."
"So I was asked to talk about this today. I'm glad I was. I just want you to know that what you need to do is call your representatives, and make sure that these cuts are stopped."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Others joined him in sounding the alarm.
Last week, Morales said in article for NBC6 that "never have we faced the combustible mix of a lack of meteorological data and the less accurate forecasts that follow, with an elevated propensity for the rapidly intensifying hurricanes of the manmade climate change era."
He noted that "hundreds" of scientists and all living former NWS directors "fear a 'needless loss of life' as a result of the loss of staff and resources at NWS brought on since January."
The NWS recently announced that it will be hiring new meteorologists and specialists to "stabilize" the agency. Meanwhile, NWS director Ken Graham said Americans should prepare themselves for an intense Atlantic hurricane season and "take proactive steps now to make a plan and gather supplies to ensure you're ready before a storm threatens."
@followingmybody/X