Meteorologist Calls Out Trump On-Air Over ‘Sledge Hammer Attack’ on Weather Research Funding | Video

NBC 6 South Florida meteorologist John Morales outlined how President Donald Trump’s drastic spending cuts on science and national weather services will likely impact how accurately weather broadcasters can convey forecasts to audiences.

Before Morales laid out the details, he played a clip from a 2019 report he did on Hurricane Dorian, in which the storm traveled up the Florida coastline. At the time, Morales said locals had concerns that it would hit South Florida. In the video, he was able to assure watchers that weather patterns indicated the storm would veer away from the area.

“There is a lot of anxiety out there, because you don’t see it turning,” he said during the old clip. However, he added in a calm manner that the hurricane is “going to turn.”

After the clip was over, Morales asked the viewers watching, “Remember that?” as he set up his example.

“That was about six years ago. That was Hurricane Dorian as it was absolutely devastating the Northwest Bahamas as a Category 5. Sat over that region two days, was headed straight west. Lots of people in Florida were concerned the hurricane was heading here,” he recalled as he remarked on his 34 years covering weather in South Florida. “Confidently, I went on TV and I told you, ‘It’s going to turn — you don’t need to worry. It is going to turn.’ And I am here to tell you that I’m not sure I can do that this year.”

He went on to directly take shots at the negative consequences of Trump’s move to slash funding for climate and weather research and for firing hundreds of scientists at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The cuts, the gutting, the sledge hammer attack on science in general, and I could talk about that for a long, long time and how that is effecting the U.S. leadership and science over many years and how we’re losing that leadership, and this is a multi-generational impact on science and this country,” Morales said.

During his message, the meteorologist showed an image of stats, which noted that the Central and South Florida National Weather Service is now 19 to 39% understaffed, there has been a 17% reduction in weather balloon launches across the United States and it’s ultimately “degraded forecast accuracy.”

“Let’s talk about the federal government cuts to the National Weather Service and to NOAA. Did you know that Central and South Florida Weather Service offices are currently, basically 20 to 40% understaffed,” Morales said. “From Tampa to Key West, including the Miami office, 20 to 40% understaffed. Now, this type of staffing shortage is having impacts across the nation because there’s been a nearly 20% reduction in weather balloon releases, launches that carry those radio signs. And what we’re starting to see is that the quality of the forecast is becoming degraded.”

Since Trump announced his slew of funding cuts across government sectors, many meteorologists and climate scientists have started to protest Trump and his administration’s controversial decisions. In an effort to provide viewers with an understanding of how government funding helps advance weather and climate research, which has led to an improvement to safety, more than 200 figures within the weather broadcasting industry came together to run a livestream for 100 hours as their way of protest. During the stream, which ran from May 28 to June 1, the professionals called out the risks that come with budget cuts to that specific area of science and research.

“Having reliable weather forecasts and climate projections is something that I think the American public has been able to take for granted for a very long time,” climate scientist Margaret Duffy said. “These funding cuts directly affect the research that underlies those forecasts.”

You can watch the full NBC 6 clip in the video above.

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