Hey Texas and Louisiana, Does Your Winter Storm Have A Name?

Texas and Louisiana are feeling the impact of this massive winter storm. The scale of the storm actually reaches from coast to coast across the United States, but its going to have different impacts on each region. So bad in some places, its causing disruption to the biggest thing in America. The Buffalo Bills had to move their NFL Playoff game to Monday afternoon because of the snowfall.

In Texas and Louisiana, its going to be bitterly cold, with some freezing precipitation. That could mean ice and snow on the roadways, and pipe-bursting temperatures.

But the coverage of a storm like this can be a little confusing. Because a portion of the coverage is using a name for the storm, while others aren't calling it by name at all. Why is that?

You will notice this coverage from the National Weather Service, no name is used:

But then when you see these posts here, and here, and this coverage from The Weather Channel, they all use the name Heather for this winter storm.

So is this storm called Heather, or are we confusing two different storms?

It turns out, the storm has been named Heather, but some officials want us to ignore that name, and all other names given to winter storms. This has actually become a large fight over the last few years.

The Weather Channel started naming winter storms back in 2012 as a way to create less confusion when the US is facing multiple winter storm systems at once. The naming scheme is similar to what government officials use for hurricanes. The Weather Channel's concept was simple; there could be one major storm hitting Denver, while one hits New York at the same time, but they're two different storms, to keep things easier on those looking for information, each has a name.

This idea really upset the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and their National Weather Service. They quickly condemned the practice, and have made it a point to aggressively avoid these names. Competitors of The Weather Channel took the same approach, forming an alliance of those who didn't come up with the idea first.

Other competing media of The Weather Channel jumped in against the naming practice, but it was catching on with the public. During Winter Storm Nemo in the New York area, then Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg began using the storm's name in announcements and social media posts, which helped the flow of information.

Government organizations have continued to fight against these names, and refuse to use them. But The Weather Channel's practice continues, and it seems to have helped those tracking weather when its coming to their area.

It is worth pointing out that other countries do name their winter storm systems. In Europe the named their first November windstorm in 2015, and have formed a government body to take care of the naming.