Screenshot via YouTube/NBC 6 South Florida
Audio By Carbonatix
Ever since his viral moment last year, South Florida meteorologist John Morales hasn’t held back his emotions during his newscasts.
The WTVJ (Channel 6) meteorologist made national headlines in October 2024 after he choked up on air while reporting on Hurricane Milton’s rapid development in the Gulf of Mexico. Holding back tears, Morales said, “I apologize; this is just horrific.”
On Tuesday morning, before Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, Morales was at a loss for words when he learned the storm’s barometric pressure, a key indicator of its strength.
“180 now,” fellow WTVJ meteorologist Adam Berg said when asked about the hurricane’s maximum sustained winds.
Morales asked, “OK, 180, and what’s the pressure?” To which Berg responded,” Pressure is now down to 896.”
“Oh my Jesus Christ,” Morales said before pausing and bringing his hand to his forehead. “Um. Alright, I am going to hold this together here.”
After regaining his composure, Morales noted that Melissa is the second strongest Atlantic storm in October and November. It surpassed Milton but fell behind Wilma from 2008.
“So 896 millibars is stronger than Hurricane Milton when it made that run last year. Remember my viral moment last year? Morales said. “You know, 50 millibars in ten hours, right? It got down to 897 millibars. Now, it turns out Melissa has broken or gone past Milton’s record.”
Morales has not shied away from discussing the lasting consequences of global warming, climate change, and federal government cuts to science and climate research. During his Tuesday morning weather update, Morales pointed out that Melissa is the fourth major hurricane this year. He said that he plans to discuss the reasons for the surge in catastrophic hurricanes.
“This is all history. This is all bad news, especially for Jamaica,” he told viewers. I think only one season, 2005, is the season that we had an equal number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes, so again, a lot of history being made in a back-loaded hurricane season, which is definitely and sadly about to be very, very tragic for some of the Caribbean islands.”
Melissa slammed Jamaica with 185 miles per hour winds on Tuesday, as the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Caribbean island. Officials reported heavy flooding, destroyed homes and buildings, downed trees, and widespread power outages.
On Wednesday morning, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm. The storm has claimed at least 30 lives across the Caribbean, according to CNN, and is now moving toward the Bahamas.
“Our country has been ravaged by Hurricane Melissa but we will rebuild and we will do so even better than before,” Holness wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
