WEATHER WATCH

By Mary O’KEEFE

 

Maybe you have seen the video of Florida’s NBC-6 chief meteorologist John Morales speaking about Hurricane Milton. He was part of a live report on Milton and its intensity. He was looking at a monitor that apparently was feeding live data about the storm; then he looked a little closer at the monitor.

“It’s just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane,” Morales said. “It has dropped…” At that point he took a moment to compose himself as obviously what he was seeing on the screen was affecting him. He then continued.

“It has dropped 50 millibars [the units of pressure used to describe atmospheric conditions] in 10 hours.”

He didn’t exactly “tear up” and he definitely did not “cry” as some reports have stated. His voice quivered, he took a breath and then apologized for this break.

“This is just horrific,” he said. “Maximum sustained winds are 160 mph. And it’s just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico where the winds are.”

Morales took another breath and then continued.

“I mean, the seas are just so incredibly, incredibly hot … a record hot as you might imagine. … You know what’s driving that? I don’t need to tell you. Global warming – climate change – is leading to this and becoming an increasing threat for the Yucatán, including Merida and Progreso and other areas there.”

He then went on to explain how the intensity of a hurricane increases in warmer, or hotter, water in the sea and what would make the intensity less – basically cold air from the land. According to reports, Hurricane Milton has weakened from a Category 5 hurricane but still has winds up to 145 mph after passing the northern edge of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. As of press time, the storm was expected to slam into Florida on Wednesday night.

Milton is striking two weeks behind Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida, North Carolina – the worst devastation in the western portion of that state – Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and Virginia. The devastation and the death toll are overwhelming.

Our prayers go out to those who are picking up the pieces, literally, of their lives and dealing with this tragedy. I have family and friends in the Carolinas. Luckily they are safe but the road ahead for some will be tough.

The comments on social media concerning Mr. Morales’ emotional reaction to seeing this hurricane grow in intensity have been mixed. Many stated they were grateful because his reaction made them take precautions they weren’t planning on taking and others thanked him for his honesty. But then there were some who were just down right mean, which is no surprise – but come on.

As a reporter I have covered numerous tragedies, from traffic collisions to wildfire devastation. I have been there with parents who are facing their worst nightmare after their child is injured … or worse. I have talked to seniors who are homeless after their rent was raised. As reporters we are supposed to report the news, not bring emotion to our reporting; however, there are times when emotion cannot be avoided.

For this meteorologist, watching the hurricane grow in strength in such a short period of time was not just about the science of what he was witnessing. He knew full well what this meant to those in the path of Hurricane Milton.

Then there were some social media responses that criticized his mentioning climate change. Some of the comments were predictable – the same old criticism that we have heard over and over again – but the bottom line is the world is warming at an alarming rate. This is true. It is not a political statement; it is what is happening to the Earth. These storms are intense because the sea is warming.

One of the questions asked was if “global warming” were such an issue why are the effects only occurring in the U.S.? Well, global warming is not just affecting the U.S. In September intense heavy rains devastated Central Europe. Storm Boris hit Central Europe including Romania, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Solvakia and Germany. In addition to flooding in India and across the globe, global warming is affecting the entire globe.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the “severe four-day rainfall was ‘by far’ the heaviest ever recorded in Central Europe and twice as likely because of warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.” AP attributed this comment to a study from World Weather Attribution, a collection of scientists that run rapid climate attribution studies.

The study found that climate change also made the rains between 7% to 10% more intense.

“Yet again, these floods highlight the devastating results of fossil fuel-driven warming,” said Joyce Kimutai, the study’s lead author and a climate researcher at Imperial College, London, who was included in the AP article.

Right now people on the ground in those affected areas care don’t much care about the cause behind the intensity of the storms. What is needed now is support and unfortunately there is so much misinformation spreading about the available support that many people do not know they can actually get help.

The misinformation is so bad, in fact, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had to create a “Hurricane Rumor Response.” That link is https://www.fema.gov/disaster/current/hurricane-helene/rumor-response.

One of the most prolific rumors is that FEMA funding was diverted to support international efforts or border-related issues, and the agency ran out of money. There is no evidence for this claim.

“This is false. No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts,” according to the FEMA website.

So, like most rumors, the story started with a bit of truth. According to an Oct. 4 report from NBC, FEMA did administer $640 million in grants from Customs and Border Protection in 2024, and about $364 million in 2023 to cities and counties that serve immigrants. However, that program, called the Shelter and Services Program, is separate from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which has more than $20 billion in it.

FEMA has dedicated disaster relief money that cannot be used for other purposes.

“Separately, it was tasked by Congress in 2022 to disseminate money from Customs and Border Protection to help communities that received influxes of migrants,” according to the article.

So there are two separate government programs. Also it is illegal for funding that is already appropriated by Congress for a specific purpose to be diverted for another purpose.

The problem with this type of misinformation is that some people are afraid to reach out for help while others think they have no support, which brings even more stress to an already stressful situation.

FEMA is encouraging people to go to its website, fema.gov, and apply for support. Although these storms are not affecting us directly in Southern California it is important we are aware of what is happening on the East Coast because, as we know, the West Coast has seen its share of disasters and we need to be prepared for everything and anything.

Over the next few days we will have very little to complain about, weather wise anyway.

Today, Friday and Saturday our temperatures will be in the low to mid 80s, then will drop to high to mid 70s for the weekend and into next week. There is no rain in the forecast, according to NOAA, but there may be some low clouds/fog.