Weather to name or not to name
Delphi is coming! Delphi is coming! Bar the doors and get the plywood ready. Make sure the snow blower is gassed and ready to go. The fourth storm of the winter is going to slam into the Midwest with a fury that no man has seen. We could be digging out for days.
Wait a second… Delphi? Fourth storm? Did I miss the first three? I don’t remember other storms, at least nothing deserving a name. Hold on a second; let me go outside to see what the Weather Channel is talking about.
A storm that drops two inches of wet snow after four hours of drizzling sleet already has a name… winter in Nebraska. This has been the typical four days of gray skies with cold temps and icy sidewalks. It was a Winter Weather Warning that was downgraded to a Winter Weather Advisory and really should be called a typical dismal day during late fall in Nebraska.
I did some checking. Did you know that we already had three named winter storms before Delphi? Ajax was first. Then came Bella who was followed by Cara. I think Cara and Delphi were close together. Cara came on Thanksgiving, and Delphi arrived a couple days later. I looked up this naming thing on the chief culprit’s website (The Weather Channel). Below is what I found:
"The process of evaluating the potential to name a storm is a continual process that includes a daily hemispheric map briefing among the Global Forecast Center’s team of meteorologists at The Weather Channel.
"During the briefing, candidate weather systems are identified as potential winter storms up to a week out. As the certainty for an impactful storm increases, a storm naming committee schedules a conference call to discuss the potential named storm.
"The committee is composed of three members: Tom Niziol, winter weather expert; Stu Ostro, senior meteorologist and senior director for Weather Communications; and Jonathan Erdman, digital/senior meteorologist for weather.com. Based on a thorough discussion of meteorological and societal factors that could produce a winter storm, a decision is made to name or not name. It is important to note that the decision to name a storm is solely held by this committee of meteorologists."
Basically, three people from one weather reporting company sit in a room and decide if a storm is named or not. I think a named storm gets more attention, so I am guessing they name more storms than they should. It’s all about getting people interested and keeping them tuned in, isn’t it? That means it is about money and not safety. I looked at other weather sites, and they don’t really like the Weather Channel and this name game thing. Cool, a weatherman cat fight. Snowballs at 20 paces!
Well, the three weather forecasters for a local TV station could do the same thing I guess. At least they get the forecast right, or darn close. The weather channel called for up to six inches of snow and lots of ice for our area. My local guy, let’s call him Bill, forecasted differently. Bill said mostly rain to start, with sleet during the morning commute, changing to snow in the late morning and early afternoon. Yeah, Bill nailed it. Delphi didn’t produce much here. Hey, isn’t Delphi the location of the Oracle in Greek mythology. Hey, Weather Channel, you might want to get a new oracle. Leave the naming for the guys who deal with hurricanes. I will take Bill over the Global Forecast Center’s team of meteorologists any day.
