Meteorologist Explains Why He Choked Up During Viral Milton Broadcast

• Veteran meteorologist John Morales became visibly emotional about the gravity of the situation during an Oct. 7 report on NBC affiliate WTVJ about Hurricane Milton
• “It’s empathy for future victims because these hurricanes really wreck lives and take lives,” Morales tells PEOPLE
• He also says Milton could be the costliest disaster in Florida’s history

The Florida meteorologist who went viral when he reported on Hurricane Milton’s potentially devastating impact this week is speaking out about what caused him to get so emotional.

“At that moment on television yesterday,” John Morales, a hurricane specialist for NBC affiliate WTVJ, tells PEOPLE, “I can tell you that it’s angst over the multiplication of extreme weather events and their severity. It’s empathy for future victims because these hurricanes really wreck lives and take lives.”

In a WTVJ telecast on Monday, Oct. 7, Morales delivered a sobering report about Milton, which has since become a powerful Category 4 hurricane. 

“Incredible, incredible hurricane,” began Morales, who had been with WTVJ since 2009, before he paused.

“It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours,” he added, as tears appeared to well up in his eyes. “I apologize — this is just horrific.” 

Morales continued his report by updating residents off-camera as the weather map became the focal point. However, viewers could still hear him sounding a little choked up with emotion throughout the segment.

Recalling what happened during that telecast, Morales tells PEOPLE that moments before he went on the air, he received an emergency bulletin indicating that Milton had reached Category 5 status.

“Keep in mind, that was noon Eastern Time Monday, and we had woken up on Sunday morning to a mundane 50 mph tropical storm,” he says. “So the wind speeds more than tripled in the span of just over 24 hours.”

“Then I’m looking at the barometric pressure, which is a measure of [the] intensity of the hurricane,” he adds, “and I’m seeing the pressure drop precipitously. I’m doing a calculation in my head just before I turn to the camera and I start to talk to the camera and go, ‘Incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane.’ And my voice breaks when I say it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours, which to a meteorologist, means a lot.”

Throughout his career, Morales shares with PEOPLE that he has been known to viewers as a “just the facts” guy and not an alarmist when it comes to his weather forecasts.

“People appreciate that in a TV market where tropical weather is hyped up immensely,” he says. “I’ve always been swimming against the current, I’m always the guy that doesn’t hype things out of proportion. And yet suddenly people saw that reaction from me yesterday, and I think that’s in part why I apologized. But it’s also in part why it became viral.”

Morales says that he spent half of his career warning the public about the climate crisis.

“To see what I’ve known would happen [to] unfold before your very eyes when you’ve been trying to warn people about this and urging action on climate and not getting enough of that — it’s just frustrating,” he adds.

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The meteorologist later posted a clip of the telecast on X and captioned: “I debated whether to share this. I did apologize on the air. But I invite you to read my introspection on @BulletinAtomic of how extreme weather driven by global warming has changed me. Frankly, YOU should be shaken too, and demand #ClimateActionNow.”

“The idea is that we are seeing a lot more of these rapid intensification cycles unfold in the present than we used to in the 20th century and before,” he tells PEOPLE. “If a hurricane is going to be near land, it can lead to a devastating or catastrophic outcome like we’re seeing more often.”

Depending on what path it takes, Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, Oct. 8, is poised to be the costliest disaster in Florida’s history, says Morales. That record happened was only set two years ago with Hurricane Ian. According to Morales, Milton has already eclipsed Ian in terms of its peak intensity.

“Ian had a terrible, terrible storm surge,” he says. “But Ian’s storm surge was confined to Southwest Florida. This time [with Milton], we’re talking about a storm surge that would not just hit the same spots that got impacted by Ian, but it would also spread up the coast as far as Tampa or even Cedar Key, and therefore the destruction would be more widespread.”

Meanwhile, as he continues to monitor Milton, Morales says he’s been comforted by the reception his viral telecast received.  “The reaction overwhelmingly has been of support,” he says.  “That ranges from hugs to ‘You represent me. This is how I’ve been feeling for so long. I’m glad you let it out because I feel that I can let it out.’ “

“Climate anxiety is something that, particularly [for] the younger generations, is extremely real for them, and they’re very concerned about it,” he adds. “So to see this boomer react like they might have reacted I think has brought a lot of support and I’m heartened to see it.”