The unpredictable Gainesville weather may finally be tamed.
WRUF-TV Cox Channel 6 updates city-specific weather forecasts and severe alerts 24 hours a day, featuring hyper-local weather coverage inside the cities.
The channel, which is broadcast from Weimer Hall, has been operating since June 1. The high-tech studio features a variety of computers, which run the latest and most advanced weather-watching software so that residents in Gainesville, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Lake City, Cedar Key and Ocala can get the most accurate weather predictions.
"While the core of the channel is providing weather information, especially this week with the hurricane coming, it's more about serving the university," said Randy Wright, executive director of the division of multimedia properties.
WRUF-TV is powered by 11 computers and features data collected from three National Weather Service NEXRAD Doppler radars. The channel shows the latest news headlines, traffic and sports. Three weather casts are held every 15 minutes and updated as frequently as necessary, said Jeff Huffman, the meteorologist for WRUF-TV.
Huffman was a morning meteorologist for three different TV stations in Columbia, Mo., before agreeing to head the WRUF-TV project.
"I was attracted by projects and building things," Huffman said. "I've been building this from the ground up."
This week, Huffman is busy following Hurricane Irene, which could brush along Florida's Atlantic Coast and bring rain to Gainesville on Thursday and Friday. People concerned about the storm can receive the latest updates by tuning into WRUF-TV. The channel, which can be watched digitally over the air on channel 10.1, is the only local digital weather channel in the nation.
Because the studio is located on campus, students can get professional meteorology experience.
Chani Morris, a UF geography senior, was chosen as one of three students to help run WRUF-TV.
"They're training us to work with these systems and the software," Morris said. "It's unbelievable. It's the best thing I've ever seen. I'm going to be a meteorologist; that's my thing. I do weather all the time. For me to see the stuff I've seen, this is a very, very good system that we've got."
A microphone sits among computers and software in the studio of UF's 24-hour weather channel, WRUF-TV, located in the College of Journalism and Communications.
