Why Popular Meteorologist Choked Up During Viral Hurricane Milton Broadcast, as He Says He's 'Heartened' by Support

Mar. 15, 2025

The Florida meteorologist who went viralwhen he reported onHurricane Milton’s potentially devastating impact this week is speaking out about what caused him to get so emotional.

“It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours,” he added, as tears appeared to well up in his eyes. “I apologize — this is just horrific.”

Recalling what happened during that telecast, Morales tells PEOPLE that moments before he went on the air, he received an emergency bulletin indicating that Milton had reached Category 5 status.

“Keep in mind, that was noon Eastern Time Monday, and we had woken up on Sunday morning to a mundane 50 mph tropical storm,” he says. “So the wind speeds more than tripled in the span of just over 24 hours.”

“Then I’m looking at the barometric pressure, which is a measure of [the] intensity of the hurricane,” he adds, “and I’m seeing the pressure drop precipitously. I’m doing a calculation in my head just before I turn to the camera and I start to talk to the camera and go, ‘Incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane.’ And my voice breaks when I say it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours, which to a meteorologist, means a lot.”

Throughout his career, Morales shares with PEOPLE that he has been known to viewers as a “just the facts” guy and not an alarmist when it comes to his weather forecasts.

Morales says that he spent half of his careerwarning the public about the climate crisis.

“To see what I’ve known would happen [to] unfold before your very eyes when you’ve been trying to warn people about this and urging action on climate and not getting enough of that — it’s just frustrating," he adds.

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“The idea is that we are seeing a lot more of these rapid intensification cycles unfold in the present than we used to in the 20th century and before," he tells PEOPLE. “If a hurricane is going to be near land, it can lead to a devastating or catastrophic outcome like we’re seeing more often.”

Depending on what path it takes, Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, Oct. 8, is poised to be the costliest disaster in Florida’s history, says Morales. That record happened was only set two years ago withHurricane Ian. According to Morales, Milton has already eclipsed Ian in terms of its peak intensity.

“Climate anxiety is something that, particularly [for] the younger generations, is extremely real for them, and they’re very concerned about it,” he adds. “So to see this boomer react like they might have reacted I think has brought a lot of support and I’m heartened to see it.”

source: people.com