Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Weather Service: No Names Please

The Weather Channel took it upon themselves on Wednesday to name a huge New England winter storm and now the National Weather Service is telling their meteorologists not to follow suit.

Examiner.com is reporting the Atlanta-based Weather Channel began marketing the storm as Winter Storm Athena today, explaining to viewers it will bring cold temperatures, high winds and dump heavy snow upon the already devastated northeastern states caused by Super Storm Sandy.

"Winter warnings this early in the season, that is pretty significant for that area," Weather Channel winter weather expert Tom Niziol explained on-air at 8:50 a.m. EDT. "What really compounds this is the aftermath of Sandy, and that again is the main reason why we are naming this storm."

Minutes later, the National Weather Service issued a bulletin asking NWS meteorologists to cease calling the winter storm by a name.

"TWC has named the Nor'easter Athena," the National Weather Service in Bohemia, New York said. "The NWS does not use name winter storms in our products. Please refrain from using the term Athena in any of our products."

The term "products" is what the NWS refers to as their forecasts and information.

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