If you're like me, you're probably scratching your head wondering when we started giving winter storms names.  For all of my life they've been called "winter storm", "blizzard", "Nor' Easter" and so forth. So this Winter Storm Nemo thing is a new one.

Here's why this latest storm is being called what it is according to Forextv:

The Weather Channel decided that naming winter storms would help with branding (more or less). It used to be that the only storms that ever received names were hurricanes. Hurricanes are named by the World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Nations that has been around since the 1950s and exists to provide research and education about the climate, atmosphere and weather. To be completely clear: the World Meteorological Organization, the world's top authority on the weather, does not name winter storms. Winter storms are not considered to be unusual or dangerous enough to be given names.

In other words, The Weather Channel didn't think people were talking enough about winter storms and figured by naming them people would be more likely to check out their website.

Creative? Yes.  Necessary? Personally, I don't think so.

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