My mom let me stay up to watch. It was almost midnight in Puerto Rico when Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon for the first time on Sunday night, July 19, 1969. I was 7 years old. But I still remember that night. That was an exciting and triumphant time! It was an anxious time …

The Miami heat led wire-to-wire this season. I’m not talking about the NBA Heat of course, but the winter season heat that has led Miami to shatter its record for the warmest cold season in its history by more than a half a degree! Miami’s average temperature this meteorological winter, which runs from December through …

For decades, broadcast meteorologists and weather presenters have been asked to provide on-air support and analysis on everything from earthquakes and meteor showers to rocket launches and aircraft accidents. A request to discuss these science-related subjects often comes from the TV-news directors, who see their weather anchor as their “station scientist.” But in the United …

Yesterday I was quoted by Capital Weather Gang‘s Jason Samenow and Brian McNoldy in regards to the unusual step by the Met Service of Jamaica to issue a Tropical Storm Warning before the system had even been classified as one by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The issuance of watches and warnings is within the …

In the classic baseball movie “Field of Dreams,” a baseball diamond was built in a cornfield. In what could be a disaster movie-in-production, Florida has built enough housing and infrastructure in the past decade to accommodate 2.5 million new residents. It’s clear that a lot of building has been going on in the Sunshine State …

Even Scheherazade, the legendary storyteller from “One Thousand and One Nights,” might find temperatures uncomfortable during this remarkable year of heat in Florida. The southern third of the peninsula in particular is in the midst of an improbably warm stretch, with Miami having set record warm minimum temperatures in five of the past six nights; …

You recognize the quintessential cliché movie trailer phrase, right? A trailer or preview is an advertisement for coming attractions at the theater. Well, in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, we’ve got our trailer running this week, and it sounds something like this: In a world in which global warming is heating the ocean as well …

It’s not always climate change. I am very sensitive about this. It is incorrect to blame each and every extreme weather event on global warming and climate change. Some climate change awareness, education, and advocacy organizations that I follow on social media can, at times, be too quick on the trigger. Yes, the dice are …

Pope Francis had me way before the polyhedron. Regardless of where on the faith spectrum one falls, how can one not be moved by this Messenger of Peace? But the pope’s use of geometry as an analog for globalization during his address at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Saturday was, for this atmospheric scientist, the …

Most of our planet’s 7 billion people now live in cities. Historically these have been built near lakes, rivers and oceans — sources for food, water and transportation. According to recent estimates from the United Nations, more people are moving into cities and by 2050, two out of three will be living in these urban …

I’ll never forget 2005. My exhaustion was like nothing I had felt before. I was chief meteorologist of Telemundo 51 in Miami, a tropically-aware city where any disturbance in the Atlantic basin – even when it’s 3,000 miles away – is news. That hyperactive hurricane season yielded 28 tropical storms, including infamous Katrina as well …

The author, John Morales, is chief meteorologist at NBC6 in Miami. He is a Puerto Rican and fellow of the American Meteorological Society. This perspective was first published on NBC6’s website. The number of deaths in Puerto Rico that can be attributed to Hurricane Maria has become a politicized subject, so much so that the …

The author, John Morales, is chief meteorologist at NBC 6 in Miami. This perspective was published in the Invading Sea project, a collaboration between the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel and WLRN. ― I’ve studied the weather for nearly 40 years. Hot days, cold days, storms, floods, droughts — I’ve seen them all. …