Beware of Q!!!!!! It is going to get you!!!!!

If you haven’t tuned into The Weather Channel this winter, you may or may not have heard about how The Weather Channel is now naming winter storms.  Just like NOAA giving names to tropical storms and hurricanes, The Weather Channel has been issuing names for strong winter storms during the 2012 – 2013 winter season.  This has caused quite a bit of discussion in the meteorological community and has lead to many shaking their heads in amusement or wonder.

Some people may be asking why?  Well they offered a few reasons for the naming idea:

1. Naming a storm tends to raise awareness.
2. Attaching a name makes it much easier for the public to follow a weather system’s progress.
3. In today’s social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference in communication.
4. A named storm is easier to remember and refer to in the future.

I do have an issue with a few of these.  Naming a winter storm to raise awareness is a bit ridiculous.  When the public hears that there is a storm coming towards them that is going to drop a ton of snow or ice on their area, it tends to keep their attention because they want to know how to plan ahead.  Naming a storm does little for this.  I can see where giving it a name would make it easier to talk about on social media like Facebook and Twitter, but it’s not going to help with the awareness factor much.  As far as a named storm being easier to remember, I can see some point to it.  However, most people will either name the storm themselves or remember it without the need for a name.  Here in the Midwest, if you mention the Halloween Blizzard of 1991, most people 27 and older will know what you are talking about.  A name the people come up with is often easier and catchier than any name that is assigned by an organization or network.

Another point is the fact that winter storms are much less predictable than hurricanes.  Hurricanes get their name early in their life cycle (the tropical storm stage) and our current weather models are fairly accurate for 3 to 5 days into the future in determining whether or not a tropical storm will actually develop into an actual hurricane.  However, the same is not true for winter storms.  Winter storms can change in intensity and track in a different direction in a relatively short period of time (sometimes less than a day!) when compared to what our weather models predict.  So what happens if a modeled predicted storm that you have now named fails to develop?  You end up looking foolish and have just confused the viewing public.

Also, I want to point out that the names that The Weather Channel has chosen for this winter follows no rhyme or reason.  (See the list below.)  Unlike names chosen for tropical storms which alternate between male and female and tend to be common names, The Weather Channel has been using rather odd names with no pattern of any kind.  We just had winter storm “Q” roll through the area.  Really?  Q?  Is that all they could come up with?  Yeah, no one is going to remember the storm that dumped over a foot of snow on parts of the Central Plains as “Q.”

 

Another issue I have with The Weather Channel’s naming scheme is that there appears to be no sort of criteria that decides if or when a storm gets a name.  NOAA gives names to tropical storms only when they reach a certain sustained wind speed.  However, this new winter naming system has no criteria at all and seems to only apply to storms when The Weather Channel needs something more to talk about.

So I don’t know what your thoughts are on this new winter storm naming idea of The Weather Channel’s, but to me it is a bit ridiculous.  Frankly, I believe it to be a silly marketing gimmick and that it will soon fade from existence.  The Weather Channel should just leave the storm naming ideas to the experts at NOAA and just continue to report on the weather and forecasts in a way to keep the public informed without the confusing names!