How to Watch The Weather Channel’s Hurricane Ian Coverage Live for Free Online
Hurricane Ian is expected to slam into the west coast of Florida on Wednesday. Florida governor Ron DeSantis declared a pre-landfall state of emergency for the entire state on Saturday afternoon and urged residents to be prepared for Ian’s impact.
Forecasters say that they anticipate the storm to reach Category 3 or 4 status by the time it makes it to the Florida coast this week.
“If the jet stream is able to dip southward early, Ian could be steered into the west coast of Florida before interacting with high wind shear, causing the hurricane to be much stronger at landfall. On the other hand, a slower jet stream arrival could allow Ian to drift toward the northern Gulf Coast, where high wind shear would drop the wind intensity prior to landfall,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty.
Given the potential severity of the storm, it is important to be able to follow coverage even if you don’t have cable. Fortunately, there are live TV streaming services that offer free trials and free streaming options so that you can get the latest information available on Hurricane Ian.
The good news is that all of these services work on your TV, as well as your phone, so if you lose your internet connection, but still have cell service you can still follow the storm coverage.
1. Stream The Weather Channel on a Live TV Streaming Service
If you want to stream the The Weather Channel, there are four major streaming services that offer the network, including DIRECTV STREAM, fuboTV, Frndly TV, and YouTube TV.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Sign Up | Free Trial | Get 50% Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| The Weather Channel | + $29 | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | - | ✓ | |
Unfortunately, services like Hulu Live TV, and Sling TV, don’t offer The Weather Channel. However, most of them will stream your local channels which will likely be televising updates on Hurricane Ian as it moves toward the coast.
2. Watch Using The Weather Channel TV App
In May, The Weather Channel launched new service called “The Weather Channel TV App,” which is available direct-to-consumer without a cable or satellite subscription. The service has two plans: $2.99/mo. or $29.99/year ($2.49/mo. paid annually), after a seven-day free trial.
The new service is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, and Xfinity Flex devices. However, it does not provide access on your computer, mobile device, or Apple TV.
3. Watch Local News Coverage Live with NewsOn
As Hurricane Ian approaches the Florida coast, NewsON will offer live local news coverage from their partners in the affected areas, including WALA/WPMI/WEAR Mobile-Pensacola, WESH/WCEU Daytona, WJXT, WJXX/WTLV Jacksonville, WESH/WKMG/WFTV/WOFL Orlando, WFLA/WTSP/WTVT/WFTS Tampa Bay, and other stations as the storms continue to move northward through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida’s west coast.
You can watch it via their website, their TV apps on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, or on your mobile device on iOS and Android.
4. Watch Local News Updates with Haystack News and VUIt
Free streaming service, Haystack News will continue to provide video updates from their local news partners from around the affected areas. You can view ongoing coverage on the Haystack News website at Haystack.TV, or by downloading their app, available on Android TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, iOS, Android, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Vizio, and Hisense TV.
Haystack News has an aggregated pop-up Hurricane Ian channel, along with coverage from stations in the storm’s path:
- WFTV Orlando
- Very Orlando (WESH)
- Very South Florida
- WJAX Live
- WSOC Charlotte
- WSB Atlanta
- Very Carolina WYFF
- WMGT Macon Live
- Very Savannah - WJCL
- WDEF Chattanooga Live
Free video streaming service VUIt aggregates local news feeds from a number of stations in the target zone of Hurricane Ian, and will provide ongoing wall-to-wall coverage as the storm nears landfall. The VUIt streaming app is available for Android, iOS, Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Chromecast.
VUit
VUit is a free video streaming service that includes on-demand access to content produced by 260+ local TV news stations around the United States. Its partners include Lilly Broadcasting, Heritage Broadcasting, and Gray Television. The service covers 78% of the nation’s DMAs.
5. Get Live Updates for Free with LocalNow
Local Now is a free service that provides coverage from local stations around the country, including many in Florida. There are two separate Tampa stations, along with other Florida stations as well.
Local Now
Local Now is a free video streaming service that includes on-demand access to movies and TV shows. The service also provides several virtual streaming channels, including newscasts from New York, Denver, Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, and West Palm Beach. Over 220 cities in the United States have a localized feed. Local Now offers live severe weather coverage from The Weather Channel to people viewing in areas impacted by the severe weather event