At a Glance

The list of 2020-21 winter storm names has been revealed.Winter storms are named by The Weather Channel for systems meeting strict criteria.There were 19 named storms last winter.

The Weather Channelreleased the 2020-21 winter storm names list Thursday, marking the ninth season of naming winter storms.

The names will be used in alphabetical order to identify winter storms that meet objective naming criteria based on National Weather Service winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings and ice storm warnings.

The was the first of its kind to be developed by The Weather Channel and is compiled annually by a team from both The Weather Channel TV and weather.com.

(MORE: The Science Behind Naming Winter Storms)

Winter storm names excludeany current Atlantic and eastern Pacific hurricane names on the for the next six years, and any (those particularly deadly, destructive and historic).

Winter storms are named based on either meeting, or the expectation to meet, at least one of the following criteria:

- NWSwinter storm, blizzard, or ice storm warnings covering at least a population of 2 million.-NWS winter storm, blizzard, or ice storm warnings covering at least an area of 400,000 square kilometers.

Example of a named winter storm - Winter Storm Quiana - as shown by accumulated snowfall from the West to the upper Midwest in February 2019.

Storms forecast to trigger NWS warnings over a much larger population and/or area, such as January 2018's Winter Storm Grayson in the and ,are typically named well ahead of time.

Lake-effect snowstorms are not named, and any warnings covering lake-effect snow are not counted for consideration for naming a winter storm.

Using these criteria, the number of named winter storms has been fairly consistent over the past eight seasons.

(AMS BLOG: It's Time For Weather Community Cooperation on Naming Winter Storms)

Therewere 24 named winter storms in both the 2018-19 season and 2017-18 season. The three previous seasons each had22 named storms. There were26 named storms in and 27 storms in .

However, the 2019-20 season had only 19 named winter storms because of a lack of snow and cold in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest.

(MORE: The 10 Things We Won't Forget About the Strange Winter of 2019-20)

The season's first winter storm has been namedfrom the first few days of October to mid-November. The season's final winter storm has been named from mid-April throughmid-May.

In a typical season, winter storms have most often reached naming criteria from the latter half of January through February.

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