The winter storm in Buffalo, New York has been a pretty big ordeal for the town. At least six people have died because of it and 6 feet of snow has fallen with three more feet expected today. Thus far, the snowfall has been designated as a Lake Effect storm, then it was called a “Polar Plunge” by marketing-savvy newscasters and now Erie County has taken it upon themselves to go further and name it “Winter Storm Knife.”
According to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, “Knife” was chosen because they feel the storm has “cut into the heart of Erie County.” He also said that the county is looking into applying for federal disaster relief funds and that they had to designate a name in order to get those funds. According to the National Weather Service that’s not true.
It’s been discussed in past disaster-filled seasons that naming storms is really just a marketing ploy by weathermen to ratchet up drama and get more viewers. In this case Poloncarz appears to be misinformed, but this naming-every-weather-event-thing has gotta stop.
(Photo: Anthony Quintano)
