The Weather Channel released its list of winter storm names for the 2024-25 winter season in October. The fact is, winter storm names are not a real thing — at least not for the National Weather Service or any other meteorological agency in North America.

So why treat winter storms like hurricanes? Before we reveal what the Weather Channel is trying to do, let’s look at why no one else is naming winter storms.

The simple answer to why no one else calls winter storms is that winter storms are nothing like tropical storms or hurricanes. Unlike winter storms, tropical cyclones have a distinct rotating center with a defined area of ​​impact and a life cycle that follows a specific sequence.

Winter storms are widespread weather events that pose too many diverse threats and variations to be considered a self-contained weather event like a tropical cyclone.

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“Winter storm conditions can vary greatly from community to community and over a very large area,” the National Weather Service said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. The weather service, which does not name winter storms, added that “unlike tropical storms, winter storms are diverse and conditions change over the life of the storm.”

“Therefore, our forecasts, observations and warnings focus on specific impacts such as wind conditions, snowfall, ice, temperature, visibility and other impacts,” the agency said.

Take, for example, the Texas freeze in February 2021, which the Weather Channel dubbed “Winter Storm Uri.” This event caused waves of different winter storms over several days. Individual blizzards produced varying degrees of snowfall across Texas, and a series of ice storms with freezing rain left some roads impassable.

However, meteorologically speaking, this weather event was driven by the record-breaking duration of freezing temperatures rather than a single storm.

“Naming storms kind of works as long as we don’t worry too much about strict definitions,” state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon told the Chronicle. “Texans believe that what happened in February 2021 was Uri, but we actually had a sequence of three winter storms: an unnamed one, then Uri, then Vera.”

The constant factor was the frigid temperature: It caused wet roads to remain icy and slippery, drove up demand for electricity to the point where the Texas power grid collapsed, and burst pipes led to water outages in cities across the state.

“The cold air continued for several storms, but I think people associate the name ‘Uri’ with the cold air more than anything else,” Nielsen-Gammon said.

Longtime Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore went on air in October to explain the basis for naming winter storms, a practice the channel began in the winter of 2012-13.

“We name our winter storms here, and you know, whether you love them or hate them, they certainly play a role in raising awareness, getting people’s attention out there,” he said.

He said naming winter storms can increase awareness of major weather events, streamline communication about the weather events and help make it easier to search for weather information on social media platforms.

The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency that specializes in weather and climate issues and is responsible for naming hurricanes and tropical storms, has understood the value of storm names for decades.

“Using short, unique names – in written and oral communication – was found to be faster and less error-prone,” the WMO website says. “These were key considerations when sharing detailed storm information with hundreds of widely dispersed weather stations, coastal bases and ships at sea.”

The WMO had found that “naming tropical cyclones has proven to be the fastest way to communicate warnings and increase public awareness and preparedness,” adding that “naming tropical cyclones improves tracking and discussion certain storms easier, especially when multiple storms are active at the same time.”

First of all, we won’t hear about a “Winter Storm Uri” this year because the Weather Channel no longer uses that name. And as for our federal government: “The National Weather Service does not name winter storms and there are no plans to take this into account,” the weather service said.

But public emergency officials have adopted the Weather Channel’s winter storm names and the channel’s goal of promoting public preparedness.

“Having an indicator, an identifier or a name is usually helpful in creating awareness and ensuring that the public has something that is easily searchable and identifiable on social media when they are looking for information,” Wes said Rapaport, a spokesman for the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

“There is a lot of jargon in meteorology, and the ability to simplify the information and present it in a way that helps people understand it is an advantage,” he said, adding that “part of the standard practice of TDEM is to use a common language.”

“So if this name (created by the Weather Channel) is a part of it, then we will absolutely use it to make the public aware of resources,” Rapaport said.

Nielsen-Gammon, who is also an atmospheric sciences professor at Texas A&M, said, “As long as the public likes storm names, someone will continue to make them up.” He added, “The Weather Channel’s competitors probably don’t like the weather’s storm names Channel, so there may be pressure on NOAA to adopt its own names and level the playing field.”

But Nielsen-Gammon warned that such a move would “quickly become chaotic: Do you give a storm a name when only one corner of a state is significantly affected?” That will take a lot of names.”

“On the other hand,” he added, “would people in this one corner of this one state be careless if they knew the storm wasn’t big enough to get its own name?”