Latest news with #NBC6
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Meteorologist Calls Out Trump On-Air Over ‘Sledge Hammer Attack' on Weather Research Funding
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. The post Meteorologist Calls Out Trump On-Air Over 'Sledge Hammer Attack' on Weather Research Funding | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Fast Company
4 hours ago
- Climate
- Fast Company
‘Cuts have consequences': A South Florida meteorologist explains Trump's NOAA cuts are degrading weather forecasts
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.'
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- General
- Miami Herald
A can of spray paint and a hateful act can't erase Miami's shared Black history
They won't succeed. Whoever recently spray-painted sickening racist and antisemitic graffiti on a Miami mural celebrating African-American history tried to blot out our shared history with one act of hate and a can of paint. This community won't let them. Already, local leaders are calling for unity and strength and planning to make the mural in Miami's historic Overtown neighborhood more visually powerful. That's important: Standing up to hatred is the fitting and necessary response, and we hope to see more leaders with influence in South Florida join in publicly. We will be much stronger if we fight with a united front. 'This mural was born from a community's pride, history, and power,' said Kyle Holbrook, the founder of the MLK Mural Project, as reported by NBC 6. 'We will restore it — stronger, bolder and with even more purpose. Black history is American history.' The artwork features local and national figures of Black excellence such as baseball great Jackie Robinson, whose image was among those defaced. Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color line in 1947, becoming a symbol of the civil rights movement in the process. Painted on the fences surrounding Dorsey Park in 2012, the public art project — led by the MLK Mural Project, Urgent Inc. and Touching Miami with Love — was also created to honor the cultural legacy of the park, which was once home to the Negro Leagues' Ethiopian Clowns. The park was named after D.A. Dorsey, considered to be the first African-American millionaire in Miami. The vandalism apparently occurred Sunday or Monday. By Tuesday, the slurs were covered by tarps, which seems like a good idea. Why give the perpetrators any more air time for their foul work? Daniella Pierre, president of the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP, told NBC 6 she is asking for more police presence in the neighborhood and, potentially, for cameras to be posted. 'We will not tolerate hatred, bigotry or any defacing to any of the murals in our community. We're here today to call for change. We're here today to call for unity. But we're also here today to call for greater protection,' she said at a news conference about the vandalism, which was on a section of the mural at NW 17th St. and NW 1st Ave. South Florida knows far too well about hatred. Since two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, D.C. were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum on May 21, police in our community have been on high alert. And that was before the attack in Colorado where a suspect threw Molotov cocktails at people rallying for Israeli hostages. South Florida has one of the largest Jewish communities in the nation. As the Miami Herald Editorial Board pointed out after the shooting in D.C., we have almost become accustomed to hate crimes in this country, an awful thing to contemplate. This is not something we should get used to, even though the language of hate — name-calling and anger and vilifying the 'other' — runs rampant through our politics. The defacement of the Overtown mural isn't just vandalism. It's an attack on who we are and who we want to be. The perpetrators must be caught, but our efforts can't stop there. This is a symptom of a problem we have in this community Miami needs to fight hate with everything we have. Click here to send the letter.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Meteorologist Warns Trump's Cuts Will Have Consequences on Live TV
A meteorologist at NBC6 in Miami took time from his weather report to call out the 'gutting' federal cuts that have left the National Weather Service understaffed, underinformed, and with a quality of forecast that is considerably lower than it's been in recent years, making it harder to accurately track hurricanes this upcoming season. Veteran meteorologist John Morales opened his segment with a six-year old clip of him accurately reporting on the path of Hurricane Dorian. '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,'' he said, referring to the NWS's hurricane prediction ability. 'And I am here to tell you that I am not sure I can do that this year, because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general.... This is a multigenerational impact on science in this country.' Morales first noted that all central and south Florida NWS sites are around 20 to 40 percent understaffed right now. There has been 'nearly 20 percent 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 because of some of these cuts,' he added. 'There is also a chance that … NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft will not be able to fly this year. And with less reconnaissance missions, we may be flying blind. And we may not exactly know how strong a hurricane is before it reaches the coastline.' DOGE made massive cuts to NWS that caused the agency to lose 600 employees, due to layoffs or early retirement. Multiple local field offices had a vacancy rate of over 20 percent as of March, causing anxiety to rise as we enter hurricane season. The NWS's mission is 'protection of life and property.' The DOGE cuts are stopping them from doing that. More people will be in harm's way with less information because of decisions made by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. This, not efficiency, is the real material impact of DOGE. 'I was asked to talk about this today, I'm glad I was,' Morales concluded, 'I just want you to know that what you need to do is call your representatives, and make sure that these cuts are stopped.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Emmy-nominated film about sugarcane burning to be shown May 31 at West Palm library
A special screening of an Emmy-nominated film, "Bittersweet Muck," about sugarcane burning in the Glades will be shown May 31 at the Mandel Library in West Palm Beach. NBC 6 consumer investigative reporter Sasha Jones produced the film, seeking to continue the conversation around cane burning, according to her Facebook page. The documentary paints a portrait of impoverished small towns around Lake Okeechobee whose residents of color endure as many as eight months of burning every year. The Palm Beach Post in 2022 was a Pulitzer finalist along with its partner ProPublica for their investigative series, Black Snow, on the harmful health effects of the burning on residents of Belle Glade, Pahokee and other small cities in the Glades. They call the ash that rains down on their families and their property each year "black snow." In a practice banned by other countries that grow sugarcane, powerful companies burn the stalks of the leafy plants before harvest. Mothers and schools keep children indoors. Nebulizers, machines that ease breathing, are often in use. Inhalers are so intertwined with childhood that they come in toy-like cartoon-character dispensers. The big sugar companies, headquartered in one of the largest sugarcane growing areas of the country, say the air quality in the Glades has some of the cleanest air in Florida. The screening begins at 2 p.m. with a Q&A afterward including panelists Jones, Colin Walkes, former mayor of Pahokee; Dr. Ankush K. Bansal, president, Physicians for Social Responsibility Florida; and attorney Patrick Ferguson, senior organizing representative of Sierra Club Florida. Holly Baltz is the investigations editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Emmy-nominated sugarcane burning film to be shown in West Palm Beach
