Veteran meteorologist warns NWS cuts could jeopardize hurricane forecasts

A veteran Miami meteorologist is sounding the alarm, saying staffing cuts at the National

Weather Service could make hurricane forecasts less accurate, just as an above-average season begins

John Morales, a longtime NBC6 meteorologist, posted a 2019 clip of him confidently predicting

Hurricane Dorian's turn away from Florida. And there is a lot of anxiety out there, because you don't see it turning, right

When is it going to turn? John, it's not turning. It's coming straight to us

It's going to turn. But this year, he says that confidence is gone

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 am not sure I can do that this year

because of the cuts, the gutting, the sledgehammer attack on science in general

And I could talk about that for a long, long time and how that is affecting the U.S. leadership in science over many years

and how we're losing that leadership. And this is a multi impact on science in this country Morales blames layoffs and early retirements driven by the Trump administration DOGE initiative He warns that fewer planes fewer balloons

and fewer staff mean blind spots and critical storm tracking. There's also a chance because

of some of these cuts that no 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. Morales says weather balloon launches have dropped 20 percent

and central and southern Florida forecast offices are now 20 to 40 percent understaffed

Nearly 600 National Weather Service jobs have been cut. The agency plans to rehire about 125 before peak hurricane season

The cuts are part of a larger doge plan to shrink government, including a $1.1 billion proposed cut to public broadcasting

Environmental groups are also raising red flags over Project 2025, a conservative policy roadmap that calls for dismantling NOAA entirely

One current forecaster told Huffington Post, quote, everything people see on TV or hear on the Weather Channel comes from the National Weather Service

Morales is urging viewers to call their lawmakers and demand the cuts be reversed

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