BLIZZARD-NAMING BOLOGNA

The weather channel announced that it will start assigning names to winter storms. The purpose, they say, is to raise awareness to impending, big-ticket winter events. The system will be population weighted according to the article. 

This is troubling to me; the whole idea of naming Hurricanes has many different practical reasons. 

To name a few they are:

-Different oceans equal different name lists to avoid confusion

-Different names help track multiple storms

-Hurricanes can last for several weeks at a time and are track-able entities well after their lifespan ends. 

This is hardly the case with winter storms.

Assigning names for winter storms to raise awareness is unnecessary. Instead, they should assign severity scales or categories to storms, which would accomplish the same goal while keeping the science intact. 

A winter storm is very local. For example, oftentimes, it’ll snow inland and rain on the coast. Naming a winter storm will be thought of as hype by people in the rain corridor, and too often, these storms are labeled hype because certain people in certain geographical areas are expecting a bigger storm then they are SUPPOSED to get. The name game will only add to the consternation of it all, especially if the naming “criteria” is based on population weighted situations.

Right now, there is a NESIS scale which was develop to rate Northeast winter storms, but only AFTER the storm has impacted the megalopolis. 

This scale, or something similar to it, should be developed and implemented much like the Saffer-Simpson Scale and the Fujita scale measure hurricanes and tornadoes BEFORE they arrive. Measuring an oncoming winter storm is difficult; but determining its impact is being done already because of a) numerical models predicting the overall intensity of the cyclone and b) the stations all across the country that can measure the storm during its embryonic stages (much like air craft flying into a developing hurricane).

I feel that TWC has the right idea in the long run, but mostly, this strategy is mainly to acquire ratings in my view.  Making people more aware is always a good thing. However, the idea should be more scientific-based according to the overall power of the storm, and using a name might deflect from their overall publicly stated mission of trying to inform.