upworthy

meteorologist

NBC6 & Canva Photos

John Morales stopped his report to educate viewers on what budget cuts really mean.

I hardly ever watch the news on television, especially not for the weather. It's just so much easier to pick up my phone and check Google or The Weather Channel. I just want to know how warm it's going to be or how likely it is to rain. These days, I can find that out in about 10 seconds and go about my day.

But when there's potential danger—hurricanes, storms that might knock out the power of topple over trees, tornado warnings, or threats of ice and snow—my trusty local meteorologist or weatherman is always there. All of that said, I've never once considered that I might not be able to get my weather forecast from either source, at least not accurately. It's 2025—our weather modeling should be better than ever, state of the art, right?

John Morales, a meteorologist and hurricane specialist with NBC6 in South Florida, was reporting on an upcoming storm when he suddenly shifted gears, right in the middle of the broadcast.

weatherman, weather, meteorologist, news, tv news, news anchor, viral videos, trump, doge, governmentWithout good data, we can't accurately predict the paths of hurricanes. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Morales explains that in his 34 years of presenting the weather, he's always been able to confidently tell his viewers when a hurricane might hit, or when it might turn away. He's always been able to stand behind his data, modeling, and forecast in order to help protect the people of South Florida.

"I am here to tell you that I am not sure I can do that this year."

Why? "Because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general."

Babbel, language, learning language, deals, salesA person uses the Babbel appBabbel

Babbel’s Biggest Sale of the Year: Get 67% off. Lifetime Subscriptions For $199

Morales then pulled up a graphic instead of his usual weather map. It laid out some stark realities about severe understaffing of the National Weather Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Between brutal layoffs, employees accepting the recent DOGE buyout, and straight-up resignations, the agencies responsible for collecting weather data have lost hundreds and hundreds of valuable experts.

He also explained that due to federal government budget cuts, there's been a sizeable decrease in weather balloon launches across the country. Weather balloons are instruments that take crucial measurements of the upper atmosphere and send data that helps with forecasting. With less data available, and lower quality data, Morales say that "the quality of forecasts is becoming degraded."

That's a pretty scary thought, especially in a place like South Florida. What do you do when your local meteorologist can't predict what a powerful hurricane will do next?

"This is a multi-generational impact on science in this country," Morales warns.

Watch his passionate plea here:

Almost nine million people viewed the powerful clip on X. It was reshared over 26,000 times. Morales' message is definitely getting the attention it deserves.

It's not just the National Weather Service that's bleeding. In the name of efficiency, The White House has slashed budgets at the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and more. Trimming the federal budget sounds well and good until you realize that we won't be making any major cancer breakthroughs any time soon without funding the research. And we won't be able to protect people from hurricanes and tornadoes without complete weather data.

(And yes, even the Weather app on your iPhone needs a database to pull from.)

Meanwhile, we're spending $1 trillion—yes, trillion— per year on our military. This is the anti-science, anti-expert sentiment Morales is talking about. It's been building for years and is just now coming to a head in the worst way.

We still need meteorologists and weather experts like Morales. We still need scientists.

weatherman, weather, meteorologist, news, tv news, news anchor, viral videos, trump, doge, governmentWe still need human scientists and experts that can compile and read maps like this one. Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

ChatGPT can pull weather data from Google and tell you if there's going to be a thunderstorm, but can it tell you when the data behind that forecast is incomplete or unreliable? That's the reality we're facing right now, and we might not know the forecast isn't reliable until it's too late in some cases.

TV weathermen who live in our communities and can put crucial context behind the weather and help keep us safe still matter. Not only that, but they are ambassadors for science, and they still have a big platform in many communities around the country. Morales is making sure he makes the most of his.

When Hurricane Irma approached the southeastern United States, there was a lot of doom and gloom going around.

The grave warnings of potential devastation and the wreckage the storm left in its wake were everywhere.


But for all the (perhaps rightfully) sensational coverage, there was little talk of the actual storm itself: where exactly Irma would make landfall, how strong it might be when it hit, and how the projections were changing on a minute-by-minute basis.

That's where local Mobile, Alabama TV weatherman Alan Sealls came in.

Sealls delivered a thorough and remarkably calm breakdown of the latest Irma models. For many on the internet, it was a much needed breath of fresh air.

"The models don't control the weather," he explained patiently to viewers. "That's the attempt to keep up with what's going on, calculate, and regenerate another projection."

In thorough yet simple terms, Sealls aggregated and explained each of the main models, or projections, of where Irma might go.

His gesturing was on point too. GIF via WKRG/YouTube

"The storm itself hasn't really changed what it's doing," he said. "What's changed is our day-to-day assessment and projection."

The clip quickly spread far beyond Mobile. It made its way onto the front page of Reddit with the headline, "best weatherman ever."

An overnight hero, Sealls suddenly had a fan club millions strong. But why?

In what became a defining moment during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, a distraught mother tore into a CNN reporter for sticking a microphone in her face during the most traumatic moment of her life. People online rallied behind the mom, and it became clear we were all hungry for a different kind of storm coverage.

Seall's report, while seemingly straightforward, was exactly what many people needed to hear.

Hurricane Irma was one of the strongest and most ominous storms we've seen. Anyone in the affected areas needed to take it extremely seriously.

But it's still inspiring to see millions of people (the clip on YouTube has over 3 million views as of this writing) coming together in appreciation of science and just-the-facts reporting.

Sealls is right — we can't control the weather. Sometimes when things are out of our hands, though, having a friendly expert with a soothing demeanor just level with you is the most comforting thing there is.

You can watch Sealls' full, viral, and incredibly educational weather report right here:

This post was updated 12/07/2017.