Naming Nor'Easter ''Athena'' creates controversy in weather community
While Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy made history books for its destruction, its follow up storm is making history for a different reason: its name.
The Nor'Easter bearing down on New England Wednesday has been given the name "Athena" by the folks at The Weather Channel -- the inaugural name on the list of winter storm names the channel created this season.
As you might have heard, The Weather Channel went on their own and created a policy of naming winter storms in October, figuring a named storm will make communications easier, especially on social media where the storm could become a hashtag.
With "Athena", TWC said the storm meets their criteria for naming the storm due to the possibility of several inches of snow across some areas that were still recovering from Sandy, including the interior sections of New Jersey.
But not everyone is playing along with the idea.
The National Weather Service issued a directive to their East Coast forecasters not to use the name Athena in any of their forecasts or warnings.
"The NWS does not use name (sic) winter storms in our products," the message read. "Please refrain from using the term Athena in any of our products."
The controversy stems from a private weather enterprise taking the reigns of this initiative without global support from the weather community. Hurricane names are governed by the World Meteorological Organization and have a strict criteria for when they are to be used, and what names to use.
But this winter storm list is being used by just one part of the greater weather community. If the NWS and other private weather services are not on board, could there be confusion? If the NWS is talking about a "storm" in the general sense and TWC is focused on Athena, and it's the same storm, but not spoken about the same way then...what?
And unlike a hurricane or tropical storm, there is also no set criteria for naming the storm and it appears it's up to TWC alone whether to give the storm the moniker, but then expect the rest of the world to just follow along.
A search of #Athena on Twitter found confusion on there. Some wondered why Sandy was with an "S" but Athena was back at "A".
"I guess I missed the memo where this storm got a name. #Athena Do we not go in alphabetical order anymore?" wondered @kateritchie.
Another assumed we had flipped back around to the start of the alphabet. "What happened to the 7-8 storms in between?" (Incidentally, as we found in 2005, the hurricane name list doesn't go back to "A" but reverts to Greek Alphabet -- Alpha, Beta, etc. Not to be confused with the Greek Mythology named storm here.)
And another:
"I just found out that the new storm approaching North East US is called #Athena. No, seriously," said @stratosathens
But I will say the hashtag search did provide quite a bit of storm information as well with a clearinghouse for some photos coming in from the storm. So in that sense, the concept is a success.
But for the non social media aspect, if you've got one TV channel saying one thing, and the National Weather Service saying (or not saying) another, and what happens if some local TV stations do use the name and others don't and... you get what I'm saying. With no global mandate, this can get pretty muddled.
So I'd say the concept is a good idea, but I think it needs to be done on a global weather community scale, not just have one part -- yes, an important part, but just one part -- unilaterally say so.
(And "Winter Storm 'Q'? 'Orko'? 'Gandolf'? Is there a danger some of the names are so silly that the storm won't be taken seriously? There's a reason we don't have "Hurricane Fluffy Bunny")
Portland's got the solution?
I think actually the best of both worlds might lie in what Portland has come up with: The hashtag #pdxtst. Short for "Portland Twitter! Storm! Team!" it was born as a poke against the local media for hyping our own winter storms.
But it caught on so well that it's now the standard hashtag for any weather event there, be it wind, snow or flooding (or lightning). Even the local emergency managers have caught on. In public forecasts, the storms are treated as their usual unnamed selves but locals know to find the latest info using that hashtag.
Maybe it doesn't work as well on a national or large regional scale, but maybe there is a happy medium out there.
In the meantime, we're just left to wonder when Winter Storm Nemo will strike.
What do you think?
I'm curious to know what you think. In theory, there is nothing stopping the Pacific Northwest from also naming storms -- I've had a fair number of emails asking why we don't, especially since some of our wind storms have been on par with the strength of tropical storms or weak hurricanes. But I say it'd have to come from the top. Would it be weird for one station to name it if others don't?
And if you do think names are cool, shoot me some of your best suggestions below!
speaking of storms :
... A SIGNIFICANT PACIFIC STORM SUNDAY AND MONDAY WILL LIKELY BRING STRONG WINDS TO THE COAST... SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL... A PERIOD OF HEAVY SNOW TO THE SOUTH WASHINGTON AND NORTH OREGON CASCADES... AND POSSIBLY A LITTLE SNOW TO HOOD RIVER AND THE UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY...Â
A POTENT PACIFIC FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL BEGIN SPREADING INTO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SUNDAY... PERSISTING OVER THE AREA SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY... PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON.
THIS SYSTEM WILL BE QUITE WET... WITH A TAP OF TROPICAL MOISTURE FEEDING IT. THIS WILL BRING SUBSTANTIAL RAINFALL TO THE AREA... WITH 1 TO 2 INCHES AT THE COAST AND IN THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH MONDAY... AND 0.5 TO 1 INCH IN THE VALLEYS.
SNOW LEVELS ARE CURRENTLY QUITE LOW... AND REMAIN LOW DURING THE INITIAL PHASES OF THIS STORM. SNOW AMOUNTS EXCEEDING 6 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH WASHINGTON AND NORTH OREGON CASCADES LATE SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE SNOW LEVEL RISES BY MONDAY MORNING.
A RAIN AND SNOW MIX OR EVEN JUST PLAIN SNOW IS POSSIBLE LATER SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT AROUND HOOD RIVER AND IN THE UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY. LOCAL AMOUNTS OF AN INCH OR MORE ARE POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY IN THE UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY.
STRONG WINDS WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY THIS FRONT. GALE FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. IN ADDITION... GUSTS 50 TO 60 MPH ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE BEACHES AND AT TYPICALLY WINDY COASTAL HEADLAND LOCATIONS LATE SUNDAY INTO EARLY MONDAY.
I wrote to KATU with regards to naming these storms and had asked them a question, I never though that this would be the response That would be generated. but it does make for a good question. and we do need something that gives an Idea on what were headed for. It is called the shock factor, to many people become complacent and wind up DEAD.
and thank you KATU and to the Associate press for covering this.
Whatever happened to naming the gorge winds "Chinook" winds??? Who ever calls them that anymore? And how long did that last anyhow? We still call them "gorge winds"...it's what they are.
I think Chinook winds are winds that come from the east ... and blow down the slopes of the Cascades instead of blowing uphill. They also compress the atmosphere. And can cause weird weather in the summer.Yes the east winds come through the gorge too.But I think it's the downslope mountain winds that cause the condition that meteorologists like to call Chinook winds. And I think it's the same thing that causes the Santa Ana winds in southern CA.I could be wrong too. This is just what I seem to remember.If any weatherheads out there want to set us straight about this ... please do.
@fracas I still call them that.
They should give it a name associated with "Easter". This one can be Bunny Rabbit.
I agree, this causes too much confusion with named hurricanes. Plus, there are an awful lot of winter storms, especially in Alaska, other territories. What happens when several storms hit the lower 48 states, Guam or the Mariana Islands? The Weather Channel takes it's cues from NOAA/NWS and should respect their authority. I thought the NWS was naming them. I didn't know it was solely TWC. Some of our storms have names, like the Columbus day storm. If we get a bad one, it's typically just one or maybe two in a given year.
I don't watch TWC or go to Accuweather. I look at local blogs and local websites and go to the NWS/NOAA various pages for info. I have strong feelings about the fact that commercial sites wanted the NWS sold, so they could privatize the weather and charge for what should be free to the public, pilots, mariners, agriculture, etc. Many people overseas and other meteorological societies also rely on the NWS here. Our scientists need to collaborate, especially for huge storms or quakes which may affect many countries and marine interests. TWC was good maybe 15 years ago, same with CNN, until it became focused more on entertainment, less news and science, more ads. For them to go ahead and name storms when the NWS recommended not to stinks imo.
Please, no names. All it's going to do is create more DRAMA. What's the criteria for a storm getting a name? Is it given as the "destruction" happens? Is it given for the potential issues? There doesn't seem to be any solid criteria for granting a weather system an official name. People (especially media) tend to over-react to pending weather systems that could bring snow/rain/wind - whatever; giving that weather system a name will prompt those that tend to get over-worked about it to go into full on melt down.Â
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Leave it alone and as it is. We've seemed to do just fine without naming the snow systems that have been here in the past. I suspect will survive the future storms just fine without a name too.
@Justanother1 : I think you're right. Every year when the first snow threatens to appear,  all the news stations go into snowmageddon mode anyway. And they all line up on the Sylvan overpass in a contest to see who can catch the first snoflake on video. It makes no difference if we give it a person's name.And anytime we look back at a blizzard or any real "snowpocalyptic" event ... Everybody will remember it just by saying the month and year. It's not like Portland gets way too many snowstorms to keep track of.Besides ... anybody who has lived here their whole lives, or for any length of time ... already knows the schedule. It's almost like clockwork: Snow just before christmas. (But almost never on christmas or new year.) Then we get the January thaw from the warm rainy pineapple express. Sometimes it results in floods After that ...snow once or maybe twice in mid to late January ... and maybe once again in early to mid Feb. Occasionally in March .. but not very often. And whether we will get a foot of snow, or a half inch ..... the local news is ALL OVER IT like a cheap suit. It's not gonna sneak up and catch anybody by surprise!It's semi - predictable. (Just like we know that summer usually starts exactly on July 5th!)
Stations hype anything they can to get viewers and KATU is no different. I quit watching TV years ago because of all the hype and my life is better for it.
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TWC just thinks they are so much better than everyone else and work hard to find relevance in a crowded media environment. The harder they try the less I like them and even worse, the less I trust them.
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Media that hypes things cannot be trusted. They often use adjectives like "massive" or "severe" to hype the story. They show a few limbs that fell off a tree and the shot is always up close so that it looks more dramatic that it really is. If they were to back off a ways it would show a small limb that fell off a small tree.
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I don't trust media to tell me the facts as they really are. I do remember one reporter who was on the Sylvan over pass for hours during a "blizzard". She said that the snow was falling but melting on contact with the pavement and the so called storm was really nothing. I liked her. She was honest and very credible. But sadly I don't see her around any more. Probably got fired for saying it like it is.
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Is this too much honesty for you Scott?
Hurricanes are traditionally named...and it should stay that way. To name every storm that comes in is quite confusing, and down the road, who will remember it by name anyway? We all remember the storm of '62, without calling it the "Columbus Day" storm. It just seemed appropriate to call it for the day it arrived (which was a holiday also). The "Spring Break Quake" of 1993...we certainly all remember that (Scotts Mills in particular). Don't give everything a name. Remember it by the year or the holiday it came on. Leave stuff alone already :)
Let's be clear here that the Weather channel mostly just takes its data and information from the NOAA, and repackages with advertising, some opinion, and squishy science ('real feel temperature'). Uniquely naming things is their attempt to differentiate their product from others, and adds only confusion. I would urge all to skip the middleman, and get their data from either looking out the window, or using weather.gov (the NOAA's site. You've already paid for this service through the gov't -- use it to your advantage!
Everyone has seen the rise of "Apocalyptic Reporting" since the invention of the 24 hour news cycle when CNN created its own dramatic music score for the coverage of the First Gulf War in 1990. Every competitive newscaster noticed that CNN was rewarded with huge ratings and millions of eyeballs and 20 years later newscasters of every stripe are clamoring for attention in a rising flood of news and information where all things are equal...everybody has the same information...and it is only spin and personality that sells and "news casters" have become something akin to carnival barkers for donkey shows in a Tijuana boarder town.
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In this competitive market everything has become an apocalyptic event as newscasters vie for attention. As a result; the consumer is jaded and limits his concern to the ultimate Zombie Apocalypse knowing that if they're prepared for that then they will survive all the other insignificant events on the way.
Back in 1995 or 1996 when we had multiple bad storms one of the forecasters just  numbered each system each time a new one developed and was able to describe what was coming in that way.  It would be more significant now with social media and search engines where people could get info on damages, cost and other data associated with our weather systems so it doesn't need to be a trend but an actual tool that many people could benefit from by being able to track information.  Technology allows us to rethink our approach to planning and reaction to weather events and natural disaster situations. Â
Alrighty, KATU. You have the new VIPIR radar. So it's time to start a new trend. Every time a storm front comes through, name it. It seems to be the new trend!
 @bobcatboy1984 Aside from looking outside, they can't seem to get much right.