By Associated Press PUBLISHED: 18:22 EST, 8 November 2012 | UPDATED: 18:30 EST, 8 November 2012 To people who were caught in snarled traffic or had to shovel snow with leaves still on the trees, the storm pulling off the East Coast on Thursday was your basic nor'easter. To The Weather Channel, it was Athena. The network has taken to naming winter storms, much like is done for tropical systems. Scroll down for video New system: The Weather Channel has taken to giving winter storms names much as they do for tropical storms with a second storm in the Midwest, pictured off their site, now named Brutus
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Naming would help draw attention to both the storm and channel when their ratings usually soar
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Other news networks including the National Weather Service are refusing to copy
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NWS: 'please refrain from using the term "Athena" in any of our products'
All their own: So long as viewers tune into the @placeholder they can see storms named like Athena and Brutus, as seen here already reported on their website