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I am sure that at one point or another, none of us understood why hurricanes got names, but everyday thunderstorms or winter storms did not. If you don’t understand why, then head over to the National Hurricane Center’s naming page and they have the history on it. The obsession with storm names has only increased in recent years, as The Weather Channel has sparked tons of controversy over their decision to name winter storms.
However, what if you could name any ‘ole run of the mill storm? Well, according to the folks over at The Capitol Weather Gang you can now, “adopt a votex” from the Free University of Berlin.
For the low, low price of about $250, you can name a low pressure system after yourself or whoever else you want http://t.co/J3M8Iqs2n4 — Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) December 3, 2014
“…you can “adopt a vortex” in Europe. Yes that’s right — both high and low pressure systems are designated with names in Europe, in a program managed by the Free University of Berlin’s Intitut für Meteorologie. Every year the highs and lows switch between male and female names.”
Currently, the highs are labeled with male names and the lows with female names. This money isn’t all for fun, though. The approximately $250 to $370 that is received per storm is given to fund the weather observatory at the university.
To find out more about this program, check out the full post here.