Do you think winter storms should be named or not?

[cycloneye]

I say no.

[nystate]

Our LES storms up here have names..."Bald Eagle" sound familiar anyone...?

[Persepone]

There is a legal issue with "named storms." Homeowners insurance pays very differently for damage from "named storms" and damage from "regular" storms.

Is there anyone out there who is an expert on insurance--or who works with homeowners insurance--and who can clarify these issues?

I think the question of whether winter storms are named or not may be motivated by this issue.

The bottom line is that winter storms can be devastating and can do significant damage to a house. You end up losing a roof, having trees fall into your living room or across your cars, driveway,etc., having extensive water damage to your house if your pipes freeze and burst (not uncommon when power goes out for house to get cold enough to freeze pipes fairly quickly), having your appliances destroyed the the power surges, and other horrors.

Somehow from a homeowner's point of view, it does not much matter if the trees come down or the roof gets blown off because the storm has tropical characteristics (and a name) or because it is just characterized by high winds, lots of moisture, etc. and COLD...

However, it looks as if insurance companies can weasel out of a bunch of payments if the storm that does the damage is a "no-name" storm. Anyone out there who can interpret the new changes to homeowner's insurance laws and what the real differences are for "named" and "unnamed" storms?

[madscientist]

I think that blizzards should be named, as there are sometimes more than one major blizzard in a year. For instance, there are two 1888 blizzards. One of them is the famous Northeast blizzard, and the other is the Schoolchildren's blizzard in the northern Plains. There were also two 2003 blizzards, one in Colorado, and one in the Northeast. There were also two 1978 blizzards. To distinguish between blizzards in a year, naming is necessary, IMO.

[Stephanie]

I don't think that they should. I think it is appropriate to name a tropical storm since they tent to exist alot longer than a winter storm. Secondly, big winter storms have been named in the past such as "Superstorm of 1993" or "Blizzard of 1996".

[Skywatch_NC]

I say no.

Same here

[ohiostorm]

I think just keep it the same or give them numbers or something.

[Lowpressure]

I also say no on the naming issue. There would be no names left if we used our current retirement policy for named systems. It would be too confusing to have a summer A storm then a winter A storm. What happens when we go from Dec into Jan? Would that be a fresh start at A again? No need to name winter storms, the big ones have there own identity as it is.

[Skywatch_NC]

If it's not baroque (broke) why fix it??

Just keep names in the tropical season!!

Eric