On Monday, just before going on live at noon, NBC6 Hurricane Specialist John Morales knew Milton had become a Category 5 monster storm. He paused, evidently moved, and his voice shook as he stated his amazement.
“It’s simply a fantastic, incredible, incredible hurricane. “It has dropped,” he paused. “It’s dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours.” I sorry. “This is simply horrific.” Morales went on: “The maximum sustained winds are 160 mph. And it’s just getting stronger in the Gulf of Mexico, where the winds and waters are very hot. As you would expect, it was really hot. You understand what’s motivating that. I don’t need to remind you that global warming and climate change are contributing to this and posing a growing threat to the Yucatan, including Merida, Progreso, and other locations there.”
Morales later reflected on his overwhelming experience on X, stating that “extreme weather caused by global warming has changed me.” Frankly, you should be shaken as well and demand #ClimateActionNow.