The weather doesn’t always make the news but when it is a mega hurricane, people tend to tune in and see what is happening. That is how many people have been experiencing Hurricane Milton as it worked its way across the Gulf of Mexico.
People in general were interested in what the storm was doing but from a meteorologist’s perspective, it was a storm to beat all storms. This showed through very clearly when one meteorologist had difficulty holding his emotions.
John Morales was talking about global warming and discussing how it may be driving storms, such as what we see with Milton. It happened on October 7, when the storm was close to the Yucatán Peninsula and was developing and intensifying quickly.
Morales was speaking on NBC and you could tell that he was getting upset. When the news came in about the strength of the hurricane, he said:
“Incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane, it has dropped… it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours.
“I apologize, this is just horrific.
“Maximum sustained winds are 160mph and it is just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico where you can imagine the seas are just so incredibly hot.
“A record hot as you might imagine, you know what is driving that, I don’t need to tell you, global warming and climate change leading to this and becoming an increasing threat for the Yucatan, including Mérida and Progreso and other areas there.”
As he was giving the update, you could tell that he was trying to compose himself and was struggling to hold back the tears. He eventually was able to get control of his emotions.
He spoke about how the hurricane was supposed to weaken as it approached Florida but it will still be a strong storm. That proved to be true, as it came on shore as a strong hurricaine.
He said: “Let’s transition to Florida because even though it is expected to weaken on approach, it is so incredibly strong right now that you are going to find it very difficult for it to be nothing less than a major hurricane when it makes landfall in Florida.
“Where it makes landfall is going to be crucial because there and south of there, there will be a very high storm surge which could be 12-feet deep.”
Warnings were coming from many of the officials, including the mayor of Tampa, who said that those in the evacuation zone that chose to say would be making a terrible mistake.
She said: “I can tell you right now, that they may have done that with others but there has never been one like this. Helene was a wakeup call, this is literally catastrophic.
“I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
Our thoughts are with those who are in the storm’s path and we hope that they took the warnings seriously.