Naming Rights

Over the weekend parts of the Appalachians were blanketed with a very rare early season snow with higher elevations doing very well.  But it wasn't only the high elevations of the south that received snow on the first day of November.

If you are wondering, the storm did not have a name associated with it.  Fear not friends, the folks at The Weather Channel once again are ready with their lists of winter storm names for the upcoming season.

If the names and system for naming storms seems stupid, it is.  I expect the reasoning why this past system was not named was because it didn't affect a large enough population.  The snow was centered in the mountains of the Appalachians and the northern parts of Maine.  This is precisely why the naming system has had little support when there are no set standards.  I don't necessarily hate the idea of naming winter storms however the only storms I can see naming are nor'easters as they have characteristics similar to a hurricane that can be categorized.  But for TWC that would alienate most of the country except the east coast.  I live on the east coast and don't care about a bias.  They can use their system and I will use mine.

Here we go.  These are the simple rules for obtaining a name.

1.  Must be a Nor'Easter or energy associated with it.
2.  Contain winds of at least 50 mph
3.  Snows (at valley level) must exceed 10 inches

That's it.  Very simple.  I should explain the first one as it has the potential to be confusing.  It's easiest to explain with this past weekend storm.  The snow that fell in New England was the classic nor'easter.  The snow in the south was not, but it was part of the same batch of energy.  Therefore that snow will count towards the entire storm.  It would not have received a name had it only snowed in the south though.  It wasn't a nor'easter at that point.  It would be rare for a batch of energy to only produce snow in the south, transition to a coastal storm and not doing anything in the northeast so I think we will be fine with the standards.

The wind is standard.  Doesn't need to be sustained.  Gusts are fine.  Snow is obvious.  By valley I only mean I'm not going to name a storm because Mount Washington receives a foot of snow but everywhere else only gets rain.  That is an actual spot that doesn't affect anybody outside the few people at the observatory.

My names will go in alphabetical order from A - Z and be picked randomly.  Many of them won't make much sense like many The Weather Channel uses.  If they can have fun this year so can I.  My next post will be a recap of the first winter nor'easter of the year.  Storm A.