‘Cuts have consequences': A South Florida meteorologist explains Trump's NOAA cuts are degrading weather forecasts

Fast Company

2 days ago

For more than 30 years, meteorologist John Morales has broadcasted weather forecasts to South Floridians, warning the hurricane-prone region about the storms headed toward its coast. But now, Morales's ability to give accurate, quality forecasts to those residents is being hampered because of the recent federal government cuts to science and climate research.
The Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the agency responsible for the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane center, amid other resources. Already, National Weather Service offices across the country are short staffed, and the department has curtailed its data collection—like launching fewer weather balloons. With fewer staff and data, weather forecasts are becoming less accurate.
This means residents won't have the weather information they need about approaching storms like hurricanes. Morales illustrated this point in a recent broadcast on NBC 6 South Florida by looking back at a forecast he did six years ago, concerning Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 storm that decimated the northwest Bahamas. In the clip, he acknowledged that viewers had anxiety because it looked as if the storm was heading straight toward South Florida. But Morales had assured them: 'It's going to turn [away from the coast]. The turn was never forecast to be on Sunday. …The turn will come Monday afternoon, Monday evening into Tuesday.'
'Remember that?' Morales said in the broadcast after the old clip played. He had been right, and, thanks to proper data collection and forecasting, was able to ensure viewers were prepared. 'Confidently I went on TV and told you, it's going to turn, you don't need to worry,' he said. 'I'm here to tell you that I'm not sure I can do that this year, because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general.'
National Weather Service offices across South and Central Florida are already 20-40% understaffed, Morales noted. There's also been a 20% reduction in weather balloon launches, which collect atmospheric data like wind speed, humidity, pressure, and so on. 'And what were starting to see,' Morales continued, 'is that the quality of the forecast is becoming degraded.'
Because of federal government cuts, it's likely hurricane hunter aircrafts won't be able to fly this year, he added. Hurricane hunters fly directly into the eye of storms in order to make forecasts even more accurate, thanks to real-time data. 'With less reconnaissance missions,' Morales said, 'we may be flying blind.'
That's especially dire considering this year's hurricane season is expected to come with an ' above-average ' number of storms. Last year was an intense hurricane season too, with five billion-dollar events and a total of more than $124 billion in damage. (The Trump administration has since cut NOAA's ability to track the cost of climate change-related weather disasters, so it's not clear if we'll know just how damaging this year's hurricane season ends up being.)
For Morales South Florida viewers, all these federal cuts mean they may not know how strong a hurricane is before it reaches the coastline, he added, leaving them unprepared in the face of what could be a disastrous storm season.
Morales has been forecasting the weather in South Florida for 34 years, and this isn't the first time he's spoken out about a dire reality. In October 2024, as Hurricane Milton was barreling toward Florida's west coast, Morales got emotional describing the storm's intensity. 'This is just horrific,' he had said then, while also making it clear to his viewers that record-hot seas, fueled by climate change, were driving that escalation.
Scientists and meteorologists have been trying to translate the costs of the Trump administration's federal cuts to everyday Americans. Morales's broadcast does so bluntly. When sharing the clip to his Buesky account, Morales captioned it with the quip 'Cuts have consequences, illustrated.' And he ended the television segment with a call to action, as many scientists have been during the Trump administration. 'I just want you to know that what you need to do is call your representatives,' he told viewers, 'and make sure that these cuts are stopped.'