Have you heard about Nemo? No, I am not talking about the fish in Disney’s movie “Finding Nemo”, I am talking about the blizzard that passed through the north east last Friday.
The Weather Channel started naming blizzards with this storm. Why, you might ask. The answer is simple: social media. The Weather Channel is naming storms to help people stay on top of new updates and to make the sharing of this information easier. It will also make the storm easier to follow. For instance, by using a hashtag with the blizzard name, people on Twitter can instantly focus solely on blizzard news.
Naming the storm Nemo definitely created a lot of buzz over social media. There were many jokes circulating social media about the storm and about other things that should be named. Brockton Enterprise reporter, Justin Graeber, tweeted, “If you get caught in the storm, say you speak whale.”
Some people were not thrilled with the Weather Channel naming blizzards. In an article in the Patriot Ledger,Chris Walker, spokesman for Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch, said “It seems to me that naming winter storms devalues the tradition of naming hurricanes.” In addition, The National Weather Service said, “The National Weather Service does not name winter storms because a winter storm’s impact can vary from one location to another, and storms can weaken and redevelop, making it difficult to define where one ends and another begins.”
I think that it was funny that they named the storm Nemo, especially since he is a little fish and it was a big storm that hit New England. It should have been named something more fierce or powerful like Hercules. Naming the storm definitely got people talking and in doing so people became more aware. I think it is great if the power goes out because you can use your smart phone to get information on Facebook or Twitter.
What are they going to start naming next? What do you think about naming blizzards?
