Maybe you’ve heard the storm called “Hercules” in the news, but that’s not its name. In fact, as far as the official government weather agencies are concerned, it doesn’t have a name. A couple of years ago, the Weather Channel decided on their own to give storms names. The idea was that it’s easier to track them through social media, and to get information out to viewers. Point blank: it’s a marketing move. If the Weather Channel is the only one naming winter storms, then that name is intrinsically tied to the Channel.
And they’re trying to do a lot of that. So far, they’ve listed 26 names that they may use for storms during the winter weather season. But it’s not totally the Weather Channel’s call. And that’s because there’s no criteria for the conditions that make up a winter storm. In fact, the government is ignoring the Weather Channel’s naming system because there’s no easy way to define winter storms like you can with a tropical storm or hurricane. But they’re not stopping them either.
So since the Weather Channel doesn’t really have any right to name the storm, and since the government won’t stop you, the Edge is grabbing it back! And we think “Hercules” is a terrible name for a storm!
So our Man on the Edge, Robert Wilder, set out to find a new one…
