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It’s not every day you watch someone stop a truck mid-air, in the middle of a tornado. Albert Martinez, Emmy-award winning chief meteorologist for Univision’s network news, may not be a superhero, but his knack for augmented reality (AR) helps his weather explainers fly off the screen.
In addition to that flying truck, Martinez has withstood Category 5 hurricane winds, crashed a car off a bridge, submerged himself in nine feet of dirty flood water, and started a wildfire in the Univision studio.
Martinez has his own theory about why his unconventional weather explainers are so popular with viewers.
“Normally they are always a hit because it catches the attention and it breaks the regular newscast,” said Martinez. “It makes the people at home turn around to the TV to see what’s going on, and then continue making breakfast, or whatever else they are doing in the morning.”
Watch Martinez explain how strong tornado winds can be
Born in Spain, Martinez started his career in radio, but over time he has perfected the visual forecast. Martinez uses IBM Max, a common weather software used across TV stations. But what really sets him apart from other meteorologists is his interactions with the graphics. “At the end, you do augmented reality graphics because we want viewers to believe that the graphic is in front of you, when there is nothing, so you need to interact with the graphic as much as possible.”
It’s a talent he’s developed after