<P> Winter Storm naming in the United States goes back to the 1700s when a snowstorm dubbed "The Great Snow of 1717" hit the colonies of New England in 1717 . Another noteworthy storm that hit the great plains in 1888 was dubbed "The Schoolhouse Blizzard" or "Children's Blizzard". Naming would be used again in 1905 for The Mataafa Storm that occurred on the Great Lakes . In 1924, a storm hit the upper South and middle Atlantic United States . This storm turned blizzard was dubbed the Knickerbocker Storm after the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington D.C. which the storm destroyed . Named days of the calendar for storms include a storm that hit in 1940 called the Armistice Day Blizzard, a storm in Oregon in 1962 called the Columbus Day Storm, a storm in 1976 called the Groundhog Day gale, and more recently a storm in 1991 dubbed the Halloween blizzard . The twentieth century closed with two more storms that received names . In 1993, a storm that spanned a large portion of the eastern United States was called the 1993 Storm of the Century . In 1997 a blizzard that impacted the Northeastern United States was dubbed the April Fool's Day Blizzard . </P> <P> Storms of the twenty - first century include the South Valley Surprise of 2002 that impacted Oregon . In 2006, the National Weather Service named a winter storm that impacted Buffalo New York Lake Storm "Aphid". Later in the year major storms that occurred in Colorado were dubbed the Colorado Holiday Blizzards . During October 2012 after informally using the previously - coined name "Snowtober" for the 2011 Halloween nor'easter, The Weather Channel announced that it was going to start naming winter storms from a predetermined list of names . The Weather Channel argued that the winter storm names would improve communications of storm warnings and help reduce storm impacts . Private agencies, and news stations have also named storms in recent years that have received international media attention . These names include "Snowmageddon", "Snowzilla", and other voted upon names such as Anna, after former First Lady Anna Harrison . </P> <P> In November 2012, TWC began systematically naming winter storms, starting with the November 2012 nor'easter it named "Winter Storm Athena ." TWC compiled a list of winter storm names for the 2012--13 winter season . It would only name those storms that are "disruptive" to people, said Bryan Norcross, a TWC senior director . TWC's decision was met with criticism from other weather forecasters, who called the practice self - serving and potentially confusing to the public . Naming though has been used by The Weather Channel (TWC) since 2011, when the cable network informally used the previously - coined name "Snowtober" for a 2011 Halloween nor'easter . </P> <P> A few of the winter storm names used by March 2013 include Athena, Brutus, Caesar, Gandolf, Khan, and Nemo . For the 2013 - 2014 season, The Weather Channel published a list of 26 more names to be used for winter storms, with the name Atlas as the first name of the season . On October 2, 2014, The Weather Channel released 25 new names with the 26th "W" to be voted on by viewers . Since then, various names have been chosen by The Weather Channel for each subsequent winter season . </P>

When did the weather channel start naming winter storms