By Matt Gephardt
Produced by Michelle Poe
Photography by Mike Sadowski and KUTV Photography Staff
Edited by Ryan Malavolta
(KUTV) This question came to me from a viewer named John and he seems to be implying a little east coast bias. Specifically, John asks why “they” name the storms when they are in the north east, like Nemo, but here in Utah, storms do not get names?

Well John, you're not the only one irked.

2News meteorologist Sterling Poulson says the only storms that are named by the National Weather Service are hurricanes and tropical storms that begin over water like Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Sandy. Last week's snow storm being called, “Nemo,” was a decision made by The Weather Channel. It's a decision that Sterling says has irked many in the meteorological community.

Sterling says that with so many storms merging together and breaking apart, naming a storm can be more confusing than helpful.

“It’s really hard to pin down an isolated major meteorological event in a winter time weather pattern,” Sterling said.

And all of this gets back to John's good question: why don't major storms in Utah get names? Well, officially, because there are not a lot of hurricanes that make it to Utah. Unofficially, it would be up to The Weather Channel or anyone else to feel like naming it. So John, by all means name the next storm yourself. Who knows, it could stick.

We called The Weather Channel to ask about why they decided to start naming certain storms. They didn't bother calling back but in an interview with Bloomberg, they said they started naming storms because of Twitter, to make it easier for people to talk about storms on the social network site.

If you have a Good Question you would like Matt Gephardt to answer email: Gephardt@kutv.tv

(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group)
Good Question: Why Do Some Storms Get Named And Others Do Not?