Weather
By Dan Skeldon
So far, so good. Through mid-November, the coast is clear. And by clear, I mean nor’easter-free. Sure, our record breaking and seemingly never ending hurricane season of 2020 continues to the bitter end, which officially comes November 30th. But it’s only a matter of time before winter storms are brewing off the East Coast, and the threat of winter weather returns. That is, unless we’re in for another practically snowless winter, as was the case last year.
However, let’s presume you’ll need your snow shovel at least once or twice this year, and that a few coastal storms will at least threaten South Jersey with the chance of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and tidal flooding between now and March. What will any storm that does indeed bury us in a blanket of white be called?
The answer is rather complicated, much more so than for a hurricane. The naming of tropical systems is a venerable and widely accepted tradition, and a rather simple one. The World Meteorological Organization provides a list of six names we rotate through every six years. Storms are named by the National Hurricane Center, which uses strict and specific criteria for classifying storms. And most important of all, the names are globally accepted and used by all media organizations. Even in 2020, after exhausting our annual list of 21 names back in mid-September, there’s the widely accepted protocol of using Greek letters to name the 9 additional storms that have developed since.
Up until 2012, winter storms had no official names. Historically significant winter storms were simply named after the date they occurred. In South Jersey, there’s no better example than the Ash Wednesday storm of March 1962. For those that experienced it, simply saying “the ’62 storm’ is descriptive enough for folks to know exactly which storm is being referenced.
In a similar fashion, there was the December of 1992 storm that brought more tidal flooding than snow, the Halloween storm of 1991, also known in popular culture as “the Perfect Storm.” More recently, there’s the nor’easter of January 2016. Don’t quite remember that one? Perhaps you may know it by its “other” name…”Jonas.”
Ay, there’s the rub. Enter the Weather Channel in 2012, who took it upon themselves to name winter storms. 8 years later, they are still the only network to rely on the practice, which has not been widely accepted by other media outlets. But the names have gained traction through social media, in some public circles, and during some bigger ticket storms. In South Jersey, how many of us refer to the January 20-22, 2016 storm as “Jonas”? Personally, I held out for as long as I could, but lost the vote of popular opinion.
This year, the names chosen by The Weather Channel are more mainstream, 26 names using every letter from A to Z, but with no names used for hurricanes, past or present. The list starts with Abigail, Billy, and Constance and wraps up with Yardley and Zayne. Contrast that with the names from mythology and even cartoons earlier this decade, like Vulcan, Gandalf, Yogi, and Nemo.
Don’t get me wrong. Naming storms can help raise awareness and increase conversation ahead of an impending winter storm. Especially in conjunction with the popularity of social media hashtags, talk of #Jonas certainly catches on more than talking about the winter storm of January 20-22 in 2016. And #Nemo was especially popular when a blizzard struck New England in February of 2013.
However, it is important to point out that television networks are motivated not only by a goal to spread information, but also by ratings and revenue. That can cast a cloud with respect to motive when one network independently takes on the naming of winter storms on its own. It would certainly be beneficial to the credibility of winter storm naming if the National Weather Service would take over the practice, and all media organizations would in turn accept and support the legitimacy of it. There’s been some talk of that for years, but nothing more.
So what if a winter storm develops and strikes just before Christmas this year, let’s say on December 23rd? The weather channel could call it “Gail” or “Harold” for instance, depending where on their list they are at that time. Remember, the list applies to winter storms not only on the East Coast, but nationwide. Seinfeld fans would perhaps call it the “Festivus for the Rest of Us” storm. As for me, I’d probably say the pre-Christmas storm of 2020. But if any storm that gives this snow lover a white Christmas, I’d happily call it whatever popular culture decides.
Meteorologist Dan Skeldon has a degree in meteorology from Cornell University. He has forecasted the weather in South Jersey for the last 18 years, first on the former television station NBC40 and then on Longport Media radio. Dan has earned the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval for Broadcast Meteorologists, and now does television broadcasts on WFMZ-TV in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.
