The Name Game

            There’s a new and exciting change to weather forecasting this winter. The Weather Channel has decided it will name winter storms. That’s right, human names for destructive weather systems are not just reserved for tropical activity anymore. However, the Weather Channel will not give a moniker to any storm. It has established criteria like snow accumulation, ice accumulation and wind speeds as determinants for which storms are deserving of a name. The names have been selected by a list of experts at the Weather Channel, they include Athena, Draco, and Magnus. They are names with an attitude because the storms themselves have an attitude.

            Like hurricanes and tropical storms, winter storms can cause a great deal of disruption and destruction. After all, anyone who has ever lived in the north knows high accumulations of snow can make driving impossible, which means the best bet is to stay home. For many, staying home leads to missed work and lost pay. In addition, cars often get plowed in and buried once street crews come by to clear roads, and sidewalks and stoops are often indiscernible. You deal with those problems if you are lucky. The more troublesome effects of winter storms include power outages due to snapped power lines, hypothermia if a person or pet is left outside, and death and injury from car crashes.

In 2011, Indiana had a doozy of an ice storm. There was plenty of warning, but there is only so much you can do to prepare. I am used to blizzards and heavy snowfall, but this was my first ice storm. I hunkered down and when the storm was over, everything was caked in several inches of ice. I was working in the news business at the time, and the news can't take the day off; I had to be there. I walked my less than one-mile journey bundled up with ski poles to help keep my balance. The wind was still whipping and the city hadn’t been able to re-salt or plow the roads I had to take. I fell on my head numerous times. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t had the ski poles. The second day after the ice storm as the streets were finally being cleared, I decided I would attempt to chisel my car out of its ice casing. It took at least an hour to get enough ice removed to where I would be able to barely see out of my windows. The ice came off in small chunks at a time. I was hacking away at my car with the corner of my ice scraper, while the defroster was blasting away. 

            The Weather Channel has good reason to make the change. The network says naming a storm raises awareness of the weather system, makes it easier to follow the progress, simplifies referencing a storm in communication, and a named storm is easier to remember in the future. In my opinion, naming winter storms will help keep the ridiculous factor down as news and weather stations will not need to dub something “Snowmageddeon” or “Snowtober.” I, for one am thankful for that. Now, giving a storm an actual name will take the place of dramatizing a winter storm with end of the world references. Although, I’m sure humanity will find some other way to keep urgency and intensity in weather broadcasts. Only time will tell as the cool down to winter continues.