Leon: A Cold and Stormy Character

For nearly a week already, the weather forecasts have been pointing to today as being a rather nasty day.  Initially it was projected to dip down into the twenties.  Then it looked as if we were in for an ice storm with freezing rain, icy roads and even a potential for the first appreciable snowfall here in Gainesville since December of 1989.  But as the day grew close, the forecast backed off about the severity of the impending storm, which I was astonished yesterday to discover possesses a name: Winter Storm Leon.

I had long thought that putting a name to something automatically makes it more memorable, and some of these wintertime frontal storms can cause at least as much destruction and injury as a hurricane strike.  Apparently, somebody in the weather bureau agrees with me; I wonder how long this naming of winter storms has been going on.  I don't recall hearing anyone refer to other such storm systems by a name, but Leon does start with the letter "L": doesn't this imply that there already have been winter storms A through K? And has this already been going on previous to this year?  My next proposal will be for them to start naming summertime heat waves!

In spite of temperatures giving us a break with Leon (at least here in Gainesville), we are still stuck in very rainy circumstances here and cold (for us)...it isn't supposed to get warmer than the low forties all day long.  Looks like I won't be running outside today!