If you’ve been paying close attention, you may have noticed that most media about this weekend’s weather calls it “the storm.” It does not have a name. But if you tune into The Weather Channel, they call it Jonas.
In October 2012 The Weather Channel announced they would name winter storms to improve their communications about the storms. This was not a popular move.
Within a month the National Weather Service announced they would not use the names. By February 2013 Accuweather, the New York Times, the Washington Post and others went on record that they wouldn’t use them either.
That’s why, three+ years later, only those who watch The Weather Channel call this storm by name.
(screenshot from The Weather Channel. Click on the image to see the news article at TWC)
p.s. On a personal note, I get my weather from the organization that provides the data (in the public domain & mostly free of charge!) that The Weather Channel uses to make their forecasts: The National Weather Service
Well, this answers the question, “since when did they start naming winter storms?” I was wondering where it was going to stop, tornadoes, floods. Sincere thanks for this information!
TWC names winter storms because it makes as much sense to name winter storms as to name hurricanes and typhoons, and because they’ve been doing it in Europe for a long time. They even name high-pressure systems in Europe (I didn’t know THAT until I heard it the other day on TWC).