Weather Channel plan to name snowstorms gets cold reception- Alexis Brunson

Winter storms are the third-largest cause of catastrophic losses, behind hurricanes and tornadoes, the Insurance Information Institute of New York said. The systems caused about $25 billion in insured losses from 1990 to 2009, according to the institute’s website.

One of the worst storms on record, a blizzard in March 1888, dropped as much as 50 inches of snow in the Northeast and killed 400 people, according to a National Weather Service list.

Naming systems will help create public awareness of a threat and help alert specific areas that they may be hit, said Bryan Norcross, a spokesman for the company.

"It is almost arrogant to say that everybody else in the industry and science is going to follow their lead and use these random names they came up with," said Tom Downs, a forecaster at Weather 2000 Inc. in New York. "It seems they have gone off the wall, if you will. It has no scientific merit and it could be very confusing to the public."
http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/10/05/weather-channel-plan-name-snowstorms-gets-cold-reception