upworthy

weather

Planet

Despondent weatherman goes off-script on live TV to explain why he 'can't' forecast anymore

He couldn't stay silent any longer.

NBC6 & Canva Photos
John Morales stopped his report to educate viewers on what budget cuts really mean.

I will admit that 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, government Meteorologists play an important role in our communities. Giphy

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."

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.

weatherman, weather, meteorologist, news, tv news, news anchor, viral videos, trump, doge, government A weather forecaster is only as good as their data. Photo by Stephen Scarboro on Unsplash

He also explained that due to federal government budget cuts, there's been a sizable 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.

The impact of these cuts is already being felt as hurricane and flooding season hits. John Morales continues to advocate for a science-based approach to weather and public safety. And he's not alone.


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.

This article originally appeared in June. It has been updated.


From Your Site Articles
weather
PlanetScience
Science

Fact: NASA takes the best before-and-after photos. Here are 10 of them.

Our world is changing every day.

via NASA

Setiment in Louisiana


NASA satellites continually monitor the Earth, snapping photos and sending information to researchers on the ground.

Most of the time, things seem to be more or less the same as they were the day before, but the Earth is actually constantly changing. Sometimes it changes through discrete events, like landslides and floods. Other times, long-term trends, such as climate change, slowly reshape the land in ways that are difficult to see.

By zooming way out, we can get a new perspective of the events that have changed the Earth. These 10 before-and-after photos show the disasters, trends, and changes that have affected our planet, as seen from space.

1. In May 2016, NASA's satellites picked up the devastating 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.

Before:

2016, forest, satellite images

Satellite image from before the wildfire.

All images from NASA.

After:

wildfire, nature, global warming

Satellite image after the devastating fire.

All images from NASA.

In May 2016, a wildfire broke out near Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. It destroyed more than 2,400 homes and businesses and burned through roughly 1,500,000 acres of land before it was under control. (Some of the pictures use false-color imaging to distinguish between land types, by the way).

2. The satellites also captured how landscapes eventually recover from fires, like in Yellowstone.

Before:

Yellowstone, camping, national parks

Satellite image after fire in Yellowstone.

All images from NASA.

After:

plains, recovery, satellite images, California, state parks

Nature returns to normal with time.

All images from NASA.

In 1988, wildfires burned through over a third of Yellowstone National Park. 28 years later, images show that much of the forest and plains have returned.

3. They saw drought shrink Utah's Great Salt Lake over the last 30 years ...

Before:

Utah, salt lake, drought,

Image of the Utah’s Great Salt Lake before the drought.

All images from NASA.

After:

climate change, water supplies, Great Salt Lake

Water supplies have shrunk with a possible link to climate change.

All images from NASA.

Persistent drought has shrunk water supplies throughout much of the West. Scientists now think this may be linked to climate change.

4. And they showed the Mississippi pouring over its banks in March 2016.

Before:

Mississippi Delta, floods, displacement,

Satellite image of the Mississippi Delta and river.

All images from NASA.

After:

record-breaking rain, precipitation, river banks

Rivers overflow their banks with spring run offs.

All images from NASA.

Record-breaking rain inundated much of the Mississippi Delta in the spring of 2016, causing the mighty river to spill over its banks.

5. In West Virginia, surface mining reshaped mountaintops.

Before:

mountains, surface mining, land damage, capitalism

West Virginia before surface mining.

All images from NASA.

After:

resources, coal, West Virginia, ecology

West Virginia after surfacing mining for coal.

All images from NASA.

Mountaintop mining is often used to search for coal and can have lasting effects on the land.

6. In Washington state, the Oso mudslide changed the Earth back in 2014.

Before:

Washington state, mudslides, earth

Mudslides can create significant change to an environment.

All images from NASA.

After:

landslide, environmental catastrophe, deaths, NASA

A landslide reshapes a community and kills 43 people in Washington state.

All images from NASA.

43 people were killed in the March 2014 landslide in western Washington.

7. In Louisiana, sediment carried by water created new land.

Before:

topography, geology, geography

Water carries sediment which changes the topography.

All images from NASA.

After:

sediment, coastline, rive

Sediment can create new land.

All images from NASA.

Rivers and streams often carry sediment with them. As they slow down and reach the coast, that sediment falls out of the water. Over time, this can create new land, as you can see above.

8. The images show Hurricane Isaac touching down in Louisiana.

Before:

hurricanes, state of emergency, Hurricane Isaac

Satellite image before the hurricane.

All images from NASA.

After:

Louisiana, devastation, gulf coast, flooding

Image of the flooding of Louisiana after the hurricane.

All images from NASA.

Hurricane Isaac hit the gulf coast in August 2012. 41 people lost their lives and more than $2 billion worth of damage occurred. Above you can see the flooding that still lingered afterward.

9. And warming temperatures shrink Alaska's Columbia Glacier.

Before:

Alaska, glaciers, global warming

Alaska’s Columbia Glacier as seen from satellite.

All images from NASA.

After:

Columbia Glacier, climate crisis, climate change

Warmer global temperatures have shrunk many glaciers.

All images from NASA.

Over the last 28 years, warmer global temperatures have shrunk many glaciers, including Alaska's Columbia Glacier. From above, the shrinkage is crystal clear.

10. Meanwhile, our cities grew and expanded, like this image of San Antonio, Texas, shows.

Before:

Texas, expansion, San Antonio, population

The growing community of San Antonio, Texas.

All images from NASA.

After:

Alamo, Spurs basketball, environmental impact

The city has started to take up more space than the natural environment.

All images from NASA.

San Antonio — home of the Alamo and the Spurs basketball team — had a population of just over 1 million people in 1991. Today, it's added another 400,000 people.

The above images are only a small set of the many pictures NASA released. Globally, there were a ton of other interesting sites, like entire lakes turning red in Iran, new islands being formed by ocean volcanoes, and dams flooding rainforests in Brazil.

The world — and our country — is constantly changing, and we play a part in that.

Sometimes nature changes us, such as people having to respond to floodwaters, but we also know humans affect the Earth as well. And while it's true that the Earth has gone through natural cycles, we know it's now happening faster than ever before.

As the Earth will continue to change, it's important to remain aware of how we affect the Earth — and how the Earth affects us.


This article originally appeared on 01.23.17

From Your Site Articles
science
ScienceInnovation
Heroes

Artist creates stunning watercolor paintings that are scientific charts in disguise

Hard to unsee once you spot it.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

Artist Jill Pelto says more than you think in her paintings.

Jill Pelto's world is made up a rich blues, ochres, and a sky that looks like something out of an old mariner's chart.

But when you start to look closer, little details start to pop out. You notice a number here or there. Or a series of points marching down the top of a glacier. Or ... is that an x-axis?

Wait, are all of these charts?! This is data! Wooah!

The artwork, you see, isn't just beautiful. While each piece starts as a simple line graph of mass or temperature, Pelto — a graduate student at the University of Maine — transforms them into something more.

Pelto has spent the past years creating this astounding series of paintings, all based on scientific data.

She was first inspired by a research trip back in 2015.

science, nature, ice cores, artist

Painting depicts scientist coring ice to reveal climate history.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

Since she was 16, Pelto's been going on research trips with her father, glaciologist Mauri Pelto. In 2015, she joined her father in the field to study the glaciers in Washington state's North Cascade National Park.

On the trip, Pelto saw how the glaciers, while beautiful, had also lost much of their mass. Inspired, saddened, and packing her watercolors, Pelto decided to try to use her art to communicate what she was seeing.

The mass of glaciers in the North Cascades from 1980 to 2014. Data available here.

glaciers, arctic, study, science

A painting depicting a study in glacial mass.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

Since then, Pelto has continued the project, turning not just glacial mass but many other variables into brilliant works of art.

Within the deep purples and reds of a forest on fire hides a global temperatures trend.

forest fire, temperature change, global, studies

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

Global temperature data, obtained from Climate Central, becomes the backdrop to an incredible forest fire. Rising temperatures and drought conditions could increase the future risk of forest fires.

Aquamarine-colored salmon intertwine with waves made from their population numbers.

salmon, ocean, rivers, art, climate

Coho salmon face declining rivers and climate change.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

Washington state has been hit by a number of droughts in the last few decades. Many rivers run low, affecting the coho salmon that spawn there.

Lifelike Arctic foxes hide amid a line graph that shows dwindling ice sheets.

arctic, foxes, science, nature, warming of poles

Arctic foxes face warming poles and climate change depicting in artist painting.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

The graph tracks the loss of Arctic sea ice from 1980 to the present. Arctic foxes are well-equipped to survive the chilly polar weather, but as the poles get warmer, larger species may invade and outcompete them.

This beautiful swaying reef exists in an increasingly acidic ocean.

coral reefs, warming seas, acidic ocean, science

Clown fish swim on a coral reef in a painting showing data of the oceans becoming more acidic.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

As more carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere, the ocean is slowly becoming more acidic. Many species could be affected, including clownfish.

A tiger struggles against it's shrinking jungle habitat.

tiger, habitat, nature, environment

Painting showing the decline in tiger habitat area.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

This line graph is based on the decline in tiger habit area from 1970 to 2010.

Here, four different trends combine into a complex, ethereal landscape.

fossil fuel, sea levels, glacial decline, science

Artist Jill Pelto offers detailed information on climate change in artistic form.

Image from Jill Pelto, used with permission.

In this piece, called "Landscape of Change," Pelto combined data on sea levels, glacial decline, temperatures, and fossil fuel usage.

Pelto plans to continue painting once she completes her master's degree.

Science is an important tool for understanding our changing world, but even the most passionate scientist will admit it can be pretty dry at times. Getting people excited about trend lines or statistical analyses is no easy feat.

But art touches us on an emotional level. We get art. Seeing something that can combine the two disciplines, and hopefully inspire something inside us, is pretty dang cool.

You can see more of Pelto's artwork at her website.

This article originally appeared on 03.03.17

From Your Site Articles
science
Heroes
Pop Culture

Meteorologist pauses to pray for people in the path of a deadly tornado during live report

Even non-religious people praised Matt Laubhan’s “genuine human reaction” to what he was seeing on the radar.

WTVA 9 News/YouTube

Meteorologist Matt Laubhan prays for the people in the path of a deadly tornado.

Broadcasters who have to report on tragedies as they are happening have a tough job. On the one hand, they have to maintain their professionalism and inform the public of what's happening in a factual way. On the other hand, they're still human and sometimes humanity trumps the traditional perception of what's "professional."

Such was the case for WTVA meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who found himself live on the air staring at a radar scan of a deadly tornado as it moved towards the small town of Amory, Mississippi. He, more than anyone, understood the severity of the situation, and he did his best to convey that to his viewers.

"This is a strong, life-threatening tornado that's going to move either extremely close to Amory or in through the northern part of the city of Amory."

He added, "Y'all trust me too much," explaining that people sometimes take his predictions of where the tornado will go as hard fact, but the reality is that tornados can change directions at any time. "So Amory, we need to be in our tornado safe place," he said.

Just after he told people they needed to be in their shelters, a new scan came in that clearly affected him.

"North side of Amory, this is coming in," he said. And then the reality of how strong the tornado was clearly hit. "Oh, man," he said, leaning down on the table with his hand over his mouth. After a deep breath, he stood and said a brief prayer—"Dear Jesus, please help them. Amen."—before continuing to explain where the tornado looked like it was going to track.

Watch the emotional moment:

Laubhan shared with CNN Business what moved him to pray on live TV.

"I can't say that I was intending on praying," he said. "It was kind of a situation where we knew that something extremely bad was happening, and we knew that it was possible, maybe even probable, that people were being hurt and about to die. I'm very rarely at a loss for words, and I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed, honestly. And it just kind of came out."

He added that many people who were watching live have told him his spontaneous prayer helped them to "realize the seriousness of the situation."

After one commenter on Twitter said that the meteorologist "should have been focused 100% on his weatherman job at that point," others chimed in to support Laubhan's display of compassion and humanity—including many who are not people of faith themselves.

"I'm not a believer. He's just having a human reaction," wrote one person. "There's nothing else he could've done in that moment. Let him cope how he can. From the short clip it seems he takes his job incredibly seriously. The two seconds it took to say that are inconsequential."

"It's his genuine human reaction to what he knows is going to be a horrible event," wrote another. "He's warned people, can physically do no more, so he draws on his faith. I don't pray, exactly, because I don't believe in Micromanager God, but I do think positivity helps even if only the doer."

"I’m not a believer but positive vibes are positive vibes," wrote another. "It was well meant. Give him a break, people."

"Not religious but I found this very touching and showing true concern for people," shared another.

Resident Leah Ann Hubbard told The Independent how helpful Laubhan's reporting was as she prepared for the tornado.

“Everybody watches him around here to find out if they need to shelter for a tornado,” she said, adding that his urgency made her think, "Hmmm, maybe we should take this seriously, maybe we should really get prepared." She pulled out her mattress and hid in the bathtub with her two dogs.

“The last thing I heard him say was, ‘Debris is 7,000 feet in the air,’ and then the lights go off, the phone service dies, and you’re in the dark with the dogs,” she said.

Hubbard's description of feeling helpless as the tornado raged over her town seems to reflect what Laubhan experienced as he saw the tornado bearing down on the radar.

“You know that there is a monster swirling over your house and over your town, and there’s nothing you can do. And you’re just praying for yourself and for everybody else,” she told The Independent.

As one person wrote about the tornado and Laubhan's reaction, "There's tornadoes and then there's tornadoes. Some will take the roof off your house and some will take your town off the map. This was the latter. He knew in that moment that in a few minutes, that town would no longer exist."

The town of Amory was hit hard, but the next-day footage from Rolling Fork, a few hours away from Amory, is utterly apocalyptic. The rare, long-track tornado path stretched across western Mississippi through the night of March 24, 2023, killing 25 people and injuring dozens of others.

Seeing the aftermath from this storm system, it's clear why Matt Laubhan took a moment to pray for those in the tornado's path. When a storm is that powerful, there's really nothing else anyone can do, and his moment of genuine care and concern for his fellow humans was deeply appreciated.

From Your Site Articles
humanity
Pop CultureTelevision
Trending Stories