Winter storm naming in the United States
Most government and research meteorologists argue that winter storms can reform more than once, making the process of naming them both difficult and redundant.
[5] Private agencies, and news stations have also named storms in recent years that have received international media attention.
[12] During the late 1980s, WLUK-TV meteorologist John Chandik started to name winter storms alphabetically, after communities in the station's viewing area in northeastern Wisconsin.
[14][15] These days systems are most commonly named if they are forecast to produce over 5 in (130 mm) of snow over WLUK Fox 11's viewing area or if a major ice storm occurs which has the potential for power outages and making driving hazardous.
"[22] He also stated that Accuweather had explored the issue for 20 years and had concluded that it "was not good science" and would "mislead the public" and noted that "winter storms were very different from hurricanes".
[28] They also determined that the project had been a success after over a billion impressions were recorded on Twitter and numerous schools, agencies and media outlets had started to use it.
AccuWeather president Joel N. Myers stated in February 2013, "The Weather Channel has confused media spin with science and public safety.
"[37] Media organizations such as The New York Times and The Washington Post later stated that they would not use a name such as "Winter Storm Nemo" for the February 2013 nor'easter.
TWC relies on its TV audience and page views for revenue as the weather service is privately owned.
Doctoral candidate Adam Rainear from the University of Connecticut stated that the names do not add credibility based on a study he had done on impacts.
[17] Rainear argued that hurricane names were adopted as a useful tool for mariners to help warn ships of the storm's path.
[41] The AP Stylebook issued an update in 2018 advising that "Major storm names provided by government weather agencies, the European Union or World Meteorological Organization are acceptable."
[42] During 2017 an ad-hoc subcommittee of the American Meteorological Society's Committee on the Effective Communication of Water and Climate Information investigated the naming of winter storms, in order to see if the United States weather enterprise and National Weather Service should adopt a winter storm naming process.
[44] The NWS also noted that its participation in any research did not imply an endorsement of the naming scheme or commitment to an operational change and that it did not have any plans to invest any money in this area.
[43] Members of the committee subsequently commented that they felt better informed after these presentations, but were not able to come to a consensus on if the United States weather enterprise should adopt a naming process for winter storms.
