Winter Storm Names. (The Weather Channel)
NEW YORK (AP) - To people who were caught in snarled traffic or had to shovel snow with leaves still on the trees, the storm pulling off the East Coast on Thursday was your basic nor'easter.
To The Weather Channel, it was Athena.
The network has taken to naming winter storms, much like the National Weather Service does for tropical systems. The Weather Channel says the names make the storms easier to identify and draws attention so people have time to prepare.
The National Weather Service isn't recognizing the names and neither are most news outlets.
The government agency even sent out an advisory to its personnel on Wednesday reminding them of the policy, "TWC has named Nor’easter 'Athena..' The NWS does not use name winter storms in our products. Please refrain from using the term Athena in any of our products."
