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TWC going to name winter storms this winter


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It shouldn't be up to the weather channel to create public warning systems like this, federal government needs to step in already. This is going to cause serious public confusion, and public warnings should never be in the hands of a private business like this. I'm sure moves are being made behind the scenes already.

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This is not my area of expertise, but hypothetically if somebody were to rely on the Weather Channel's "exclusive" indices and something were to happen, could this open the doors for legal issues? With the NWS under the scope of the federal government, they have sovereign immunity whereas a corporation would not.

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It shouldn't be up to the weather channel to create public warning systems like this, federal government needs to step in already. This is going to cause serious public confusion, and public warnings should never be in the hands of a private business like this. I'm sure moves are being made behind the scenes already.

Meh. I don't think assigning a number does any harm. I'm not sure it's the best way of communicating a threat (i.e. a number doesn't tell you when, how much, specifics) but I don't think it's confusing and it's really not a "public warning" either.

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I apologize for arriving late to the party. If anyone wonders if TWC's winter storm names are anything more than a gimmick designed to boost ratings, simply reflect on the way they handled "Caesar". With blizzard warnings flying last Friday and Saturday, TWC was holding fast on withholding a name. Only when the storm appeared to bear down on Minneapolis/St. Paul, after the storm had been producing snow for hours on the Twin Cities Metro, did they decide to coronate "Caesar".

In order to draw attention to the hazard and increase awareness, they would need to name the storms well before the mid-point of the storm. With this in mind, and their handling of the other Northern Plains blizzard from earlier this cool season, I'm convinced their naming scheme is solely an attempt to boost ratings and not designed to increase awareness, etc. Your mileage may vary.

-- Kevin.

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So how is "STORM:CON" playing into all of this naming business? Is that a geographic relative scale or a universal scale? Are all named storms at the high end of "STORM:CON"? Are the non-named storms automatically given a low end rating?

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I had to check if the current blizzard is named. It is. Draco, But their naming doesn't seem to be catching on. I had to check weather.com to find out.

I was wondering the same thing. As an avid reader of Jeff Masters blog it bothers me that he uses the names if it weren't for his buy out from TWC I am sure he wouldn't.

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I had to check if the current blizzard is named. It is. Draco, But their naming doesn't seem to be catching on. I had to check weather.com to find out.

I think it will get put to the real test when a Nor'easter occurs (which could be next week) and effects the most populated area of the country. If more localized tv stations follow TWC's lead it could possibly and slowly catch on. However..that doesnt make this whole naming of winter storms buisness a good idea..it will still be just as silly even if it caught on.

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I had to check if the current blizzard is named. It is. Draco, But their naming doesn't seem to be catching on. I had to check weather.com to find out.

TWC Jim Cantore has not been using the hashtags for the storm names on Twitter. To me that sort of means the storm names aren't catching on.

Winter Storm Athena: The Greek Goddess hurled a calamity in our direction.

Winter Storm Brutus: He betrayed Winter Storm Caesar at the last minute with an icy knife.

Winter Storm Caesar: He ordered legions of cold weather to take over Europe (oops. America.)

Winter Storm Draco: The white dragon Draco breathed frost and snow upon the poor villagers. But then Bilbo Baggins took his money.

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TWC Jim Cantore has not been using the hashtags for the storm names on Twitter. To me that sort of means the storm names aren't catching on.

Winter Storm Athena: The Greek Goddess hurled a calamity in our direction.

Winter Storm Brutus: He betrayed Winter Storm Caesar at the last minute with an icy knife.

Winter Storm Caesar: He ordered legions of cold weather to take over Europe (oops. America.)

Winter Storm Draco: The white dragon Draco breathed frost and snow upon the poor villagers. But then Bilbo Baggins took his money.

I thought Draco was the storm that betrayed Harry Potter and Dumbledore.

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Only if you're willing to pay for the royalties.

Which is exactly why it's spelled "Gandolf". Tolkein's estate ought to sue TWC regardless over that one.

I watched some 4am TWC Sunday morning and the OCM seemed to be having a tough time distinguishing between "system #1" (I guess it isn't Draco, but some clipper or offshoot behind it in the Northeast?) and "system #2" (now named Euclid, aka "The Big Christmas Storm"). God I miss Dave Schwartz. :(

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You know what was good? Their Superstorm 93, Blizzard 96, Andrew, Floyd, Katrina, Sandy, Tornado 4/27/11 outbreaks coverage. They didn't need any silly names. They went live, had experts talking about what was going on, and saved lives and helped others who lived outside of the areas with loved ones in those areas without access to local affiliates stay on top of what was happening.

They can probably save more lives too if tomorrow's severe weather becomes life threatening due to the minimally staffed local tv stations on the holiday and especially if TWC decides to go wall-to-wall coverage with it and just stick to what's happening, radars, expert analysis, and which way the storms are moving and where they'll affect. That's what saves lives. Not naming it Athena Goddess of Destruction.

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I'm looking forward to tomorrow, with Storm:Con and Tor:Con are coinciding. They'll have to explain the difference between Storm:Con and Tor:Con and how a Tor:con of 6 means 60% chance of tornadoes within 50 miles and a Storm:Con of 6 means "Things could get disrupted".

Don't forget Total:Con, which is what this is rapidly becoming.

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You know what was good? Their Superstorm 93, Blizzard 96, Andrew, Floyd, Katrina, Sandy, Tornado 4/27/11 outbreaks coverage. They didn't need any silly names. They went live, had experts talking about what was going on, and saved lives and helped others who lived outside of the areas with loved ones in those areas without access to local affiliates stay on top of what was happening.

They can probably save more lives too if tomorrow's severe weather becomes life threatening due to the minimally staffed local tv stations on the holiday and especially if TWC decides to go wall-to-wall coverage with it and just stick to what's happening, radars, expert analysis, and which way the storms are moving and where they'll affect. That's what saves lives. Not naming it Athena Goddess of Destruction.

They don't care about saving lives. They care about money.

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