People Are Truly Stunned After Watching A Meteorologist Get Emotional While Reporting On The Severity Of Hurricane Milton

A Florida meteorologist is going viral for tearing up on-air while reporting on the projected severity of Hurricane Milton.

Weather forecast showing Major Hurricane Milton near the Gulf of Mexico with a news anchor in a suit providing updates
NBC6 / Via youtube.com

John Morales, the longest-tenured TV meteorologist in South Florida, recently appeared live on NBC6 to give an update on Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm, set to hit landfall on Wednesday evening. "It's just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped..." Morales paused, seemingly choking back tears. "It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours," Morales continued with a shaky voice. "I apologize; this is just...horrific."

  NBC6 / Via youtube.com
NBC6 / Via youtube.com

"Maximum sustained winds are 160 miles per hour, and it is just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico, where you can imagine where the winds, I mean the seas, are just so incredibly, incredibly hot. 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 and becoming an increasing threat..." Morales continued, still choking back tears.

John Morales discusses storm map with 125 mph winds near Fort Myers, 145 mph near Key West
NBC6 / Via youtube.com

The clip has now gone viral, and Morales recently spoke about the candid moment on Twitter, apologizing for his emotion on-air.

Morales showing a satellite image of Hurricane Milton nearing land. A weather reporter is in the inset frame on the left
NBC6 / Via youtube.com

"I debated whether to share this. I did apologize on the air. 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 #ClimateActionNow," Morales wrote.

NBC6 / @JohnMoralesTV / Via youtube.com

Many users were stunned by the clip, with one user writing, "A meteorologist is crying...."

NBC6 / @KristyT / Via youtube.com

Others felt that seeing a meteorologist become emotional about the impact of climate change shows that the situation is more dire. "Seeing the meteorologist crying on live News about the seriousness of the storm and the possible outcomes is soooo insane in my entire life I’ve never seen that before," another user wrote.

@PinkkSupremacy / Via youtube.com

Former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson thanked Morales for his candidness. "No need to apologize, Sir. Quite the opposite. Thank you for allowing your humanity and common sense to shine through."

@marwilliamson / Via youtube.com

Another person described the contrast between Morales and some people being unable to evacuate in Florida. "just watched an NBC meteorologist cry on air talking about how terrifying Hurricane Milton is & then the next thing I saw was a woman in the evacuation zone saying she has literally nowhere to go — all the hotels are booked & she doesn’t have a lot of money & has 4 dogs/6 kids."

@hannahcrileyy / Via youtube.com

"Hey remind me is it a good sign when meteorologists start crying on air or do we want to avoid looking up a little longer," another user wrote, alluding to the Netflix film Don't Look Up, which highlights the dangers of society ignoring scientifically-proven, impending disasters.

NBC6 / @baddestmamajama / Via youtube.com

"I’m in Orlando, and I just saw this clip with Mr. Morales and I started tearing up myself," another user wrote. "You can tell that he realizes this is gonna be bad and as much as I hate to say it, people are gonna lose property they might lose their lives and this is just a terrible terrible situation."

@wlodawskicodes / Via youtube.com

In a post for Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Morales further described the lasting impact climate change has had on him personally: "For decades, I had felt in control. Not in control of the weather, of course. But in control of the message that, if my audience was prepared and well informed, I could confidently guide them through any weather threat, and we’d all make it through safely. Today as a result of so many compounding climate-driven factors, the warming world has forcibly shifted my manner from calm concern to agitated dismay."

Weather forecaster presents Hurricane Milton tracking update with satellite imagery over the Gulf of Mexico, affecting Brownsville and Cancún regions

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments. You can watch the full clip here.