Q: Winter Storm Cleon is in the news. How long have winter storms been named and who decides what the names will be? Also, when was the first winter named?
—William McKee Jr., Flowery Branch
A: The Weather Channel began naming winter storms about one year ago to "better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events," according to Weather.com. The Weather Channel meteorologist Bryan Norcross said on the network's website that the naming system was a "huge success, with well over a billion impressions on Twitter," but many major news outlets, such as The New York Times, didn't use the names in their coverage. That included reporting on Winter Storm Nemo – also called the Blizzard of 2013 – which dumped large amounts of snow across the Northeast and eastern Canada in February. The National Weather Service told its forecasters last year not to use the names. A Latin class at Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Mont., helped The Weather Channel come up with a list of 26 names that will be used this winter. This year's list, in alphabetical order: Atlas, Boreas, Cleon, Dion, Electra, Falco, Gemini, Hercules, Ion, Janus, Kronos, Leon, Maximus, Nika, Orion, Pax, Quintus, Rex, Seneca, Titan, Ulysses, Vulcan, Wiley, Xenia, Yona, Zephyr. The first three have already been used. The Weather Channel named 27 storms last winter, using a list that included Gandolf, Draco, Luna, Khan, Nemo, Plato and Yogi.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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