I love the way the snow plow deposited a special huge snow boulder right at the end of our driveway. We — meaning Meade — need to get that out of the way before the real storm comes. The storm has a name: Draco. When did winter storms start getting names? And why Draco?
What do you think of when you read the name, "Draco?" Do you picture a dragon because you studied Latin? Or do you jump to Greece because you are an historian? Or do you turn to law because Draco was the first "lawgiver?" Or do you combine all three reasons and pop right to "Draconian?"
The weatherfolk probably had fun naming the first, named blizzard. Why did they skip the alphabetical process used for hurricanes?
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Prof A-
Why did they skip the alphabetical process used for hurricanes?
They didn't... Here's this year's list.
This is just the first storm that you noticed
The "answer" is here http://www.weather.com/news/why-we-name-winter-storms-20121001
The truth is, that there is more media hype with a name and therefore more $ for the weather channel.
"Draco" makes me think of a James Bond villain.
Or do you think of Draco Malfoy the bad boy of Harry Potter fame?
I think of Draco Malfoy. j K Rowling is a genius at naming people and things.
We — meaning Meade — need to get that out of the way before the real storm comes.
I protest this obvious pandering to outdated gender roles. Get out there and shovel like a man, perfesser! Do it for the children!
Your weather arrives in the East a coupla days later. I'm getting in a new pellet stove. Old one died after 18 years of service.
Once winter really sets in, woodshedding season begins for musicians. Got a New Year's Eve gig, and then the Old Dawgz will be settling in to record their first full CD. We're gonna do it at home on my new Zoom R24! The new home recording studios are amazing.
@wyo sis - Right. If you have a kid in his or her early twenties now, you probably experienced the Harry Potter generation in full force. Malfoy is the first thing that popped into my mind.
No true meteorologist pays one whit of attention to TWC's phony list of names.
And I will say that anyone under 30 will read Draco and add Malfoy.
This storm is pretty much taking the route I am taking tomorrow, but in reverse. I hope they clear I-80 by then.
It's "derecho," with the "ch" pronounced like a "k." You midwesterners sent one to the mid-Atlantic states last June. It's like a hurricane except (1) forms over land, not warm water, and (2) moves west to east, not east to west the way hurricanes do. The one that hit us last June had 79 mph winds recorded in my town at the storm's peak, and there was a claim that some areas of Virginia had gusts to 100.
Expect downed power lines and power to be off for a couple days.
Draco Malfoy for anyone under age 45 with kids.
I read (parts of) the first couple books to all three girls, who then finished the series and then re-read them. The boy was not interested. Another installment of boys and girls are different.
But Althouse should help move that snow.
They're calling it Draco because it could get Harry.
It's simultaneous with me, the constellation Draco and the kid from the Harry Potter series.
Years ago I had a neighbor couple who owned a dog named Brandeis. (The guy was a law school student.) I asked them if they named their dog after the school or the judge. At first they just kind of stared at me. ' It's the same name,' they finally said.
I replied I knew that, but I meant - did they meet at Brandeis hence that was the source of the name, or was it directly from the judge since the guy was a law student.
Key point being, it's the same name -- but what's the connection.
Our rather chilly morning (frost on the grass!), named "John", will give way to a nice sunny afternoon and cool evening. Local weathermen have yet to give this once-in-a-day event a formal name yet, depending on whether they can get the C-130 weather tracker to do a flyover before the 6PM news.
But Althouse should help move that snow.
Would make a great video, too!
I love the way the snow plow deposited a special huge snow boulder right at the end of our driveway.
It's a not quite viable snowman torso at the end of your driveway.
To be viable, it needs a hat and two eyes made out of coal.
There are more than two possibilities for who should move the snow. Get a long pole, poke a hole in the snow mass, and stick some kind of doggy treat inside, and maybe you can get Zeus and and his friends (the dogs, not the gods) to rip the whole snow-mass apart. If they get to the treat before they finish the job, insert another treat in the largest remaining hunk of snow and repeat the process.
It's from Rocky III.
"I must break you."
John Bernard Books
It's "derecho," with the "ch" pronounced like a "k."
Duh-ray-show. That's how any meteorologist will say it.
Draco: sounds like a drain cleaner.
Is Althouse going to have a snowcam showing your backyard?
There was an old cartoon commenting on the first weather channel, of a couple inside watching a picture of a fair weather cloud which was also outside and overhead.
They should name clouds too.
Stanley Cavell, in his film critic role, had an essay on TV as monitoring, a new mode of entertainment.
It was probably in Daedalus in the 70s or early 80s.
Draco Malfoy for anyone under age 45 with kids
I'll up a litle more - for anyone under 53 with kids.
They named the first blizzard "Blizzard?" Not very original.
So is that what Green Bay will have at NFL playoff time? Blizzards from Siberia?
Then the Falcons will have to do their best to cause the Packers game to be inside the Dome in Atlanta.
Just trying to be a good neighbor to you Wisconsinites while you dig out.
How about 60 with kids and/or grand kids? Harry Potter is a FORCE!
What do you think of when you read the name, "Draco?
I think of Harry Potter and some science fiction books that I have read that have similar types of names for the 'bad guy'.
End of the world tomorrow. What is everyone doing tonight?
If Meade wasn't around then she'd be thinking, "I love the way the snowplow deposited a huge snow boulder at the end of the driveway. Now my car will have to blast through it."
@MadMan, I'm just telling you how the weather reporters on local TV stations pronounced it.
You damnyankees (all one word) keep thinkin' us Virginians don't know proper English. Us Virginians was speakin' the Queen's English back in the 17th century when Wisconsin had nobody livin' there that wasn't a Sioux, Chippewa, Potawatomi, or Winnebago. And I don't mean no RVs, neither.
I am happily watching your consternation from my oldest daughters kitchen table a mile from the beach in So. Cal.It's about 44F right now with a high of 60F.
Think I'll take a walk down to the beach because there is NO SNOW.
"End of the world tomorrow. What is everyone doing tonight?"
Party like it's 1999!
You can say, "We — meaning Meade", and then talk about feminism, or is this like most feminists - I want equality when it will do me some good, but i turn into a girl when the windows in my car have to be rolled up and I ask some man to do it because I don't want to get my hair wet?
PS The Spaniards called Sir Francis Drake, "El Draco", the dragon.
PPS Is pre-blizzard like pre-registration, only colder?
"No true meteorologist pays one whit of attention to TWC's phony list of names."
I like it, and it's going to stick. Snobby meteorologists who don't like it will be getting a memo from management stating that TWC's storm-naming is being adopted.
I think of the constellation.
http://www.space.com/16755-draco-constellation.html
Draco?
Sounds like a storm that would drop the N word over and over just to prove it can.
Those who remove snow boulders don't love them.
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