After the recent announcement by The Weather Channel to begin naming winter storms, the National Weather Service has issued a statement:
The National Weather Service has no opinion about private weather enterprise products and services. 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. While the National Weather Service does not name winter storms, we do rate major winter storms after the fact (see: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/snow-and-ice/rsi/nesis).
