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The meteorologist was in tears

Instead of the usual matter-of-fact and fluent speech, which the viewers are used to when reporting on the weather, they were surprised by a moment of silence on the Florida broadcast of NBC on Tuesday, which was followed by the moved voice of meteorologist John Morales.

“It dropped… it dropped 15 millibars in ten hours,” he was forced to pause as he shakily described the rapid reduction in pressure within the turbulent air mass.

“I’m sorry. It’s just terrible,” he said, before going on to list the data associated with the storm moving through the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast coast of the United States. When he managed to calm his emotions, he added that the “incredibly high” temperature of the water in the bay contributes to the strength of the hurricane.

“I don’t have to tell you what it is – global warming leads to it, climate change, which is an ever-increasing threat,” he added.

Hurricane Milton captured from the International Space StationVideo: Reuters

Milton strengthened from the fourth to the strongest level five during the night on Wednesday. Later, it dropped again to the fourth degree, when the wind reached a speed of 250 kilometers per hour. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), however, warned that the storm will still be “extremely dangerous” for Florida, whose west coast should hit early Thursday morning.

Residents around Tampa Bay, for which Milton could be the most dangerous hurricane in 100 years, are using the last hours to save property and evacuate. In an area where about three million people live, people are also trying at the last minute to clean up and secure debris and garbage after the recent hurricane Helena.

Terrifying video from the passage of storms

Similar to the case of other strong storms approaching the United States, in this case, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aircraft crews repeatedly fly directly into the center of the hurricane in order to obtain important data. The authority has now published wild footage showing one of these flybys.

Photo: Marco Bello, Reuters

People leave Florida before the hurricane hits

According to the New York Times, more than 5.5 million people on the west coast of Florida were called to evacuate, which means one of the largest evacuations in the history of this state. At the same time, getting to safety is complicated by traffic jams and a lack of gasoline, which has completely run out at some gas stations, The Hill website pointed out.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden called on people who are in the predicted path of the hurricane to leave their homes as soon as possible. He told them that “life is at stake” and that the consequences of the hurricane could be catastrophic.