# Name That Storm! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827 "2010-09-06T19:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/1 "2010-09-06T19:04:47Z")
Is there a name for a storm with heavy rain and high winds in the PNW, specifically, the Salish Sea? I’ve never heard of a typhoon up here. A few years ago winds got up to 80+ mph, but only that one time. Is there a name other than ‘severe Winter storm’? ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/2 "2010-09-06T20:02:22Z")
I believe the term would be something like a non-tropical cyclone with gale-force winds. If there is a shorter, local term for it, I’m not aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/3 "2010-09-06T20:19:16Z")
In the Northeastern U.S., those are known as a Nor-easter whether it cause snow or mixed precipitation. I can’t say I have ever heard of a Nor-wester but maybe that can become the term if there isn’t one. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/4 "2010-09-06T22:03:33Z")
Storms that originate from the Hawaiian Islands or further southwest, and contain excessive amounts of moisture and warm temperatures, are known as a [Pineapple Express](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Express). > [@](#): > > **Pineapple Express** (also known as **Pineapple Connection** ) is a non-technical, shorthand term popular in the news media for a meteorological phenomenon which is characterized by a strong and persistent flow of atmospheric moisture and associated heavy rainfall from the waters adjacent to the [Hawaiian Islands](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Islands) and extending to any location along the Pacific coast of North America. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/5 "2010-09-06T22:38:36Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > In the Northeastern U.S., those are known as a Nor-easter whether it cause snow or mixed precipitation. I can’t say I have ever heard of a Nor-wester but maybe that can become the term if there isn’t one. Perhaps a sou’wester? Or is that just the [raingear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sou%27wester)? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/6 "2010-09-06T23:08:29Z")
I’m familiar with the Pineapple Express. We had them in L.A. too. I like those. They warm things up a bit. I was thinking more of a cold storm. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/7 "2010-09-07T04:24:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’m familiar with the Pineapple Express. We had them in L.A. too. I like those. They warm things up a bit. I was thinking more of a cold storm. Siberian Express? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/8 "2010-09-07T22:43:01Z")
“Normal” ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/9 "2010-09-08T03:27:18Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Perhaps a sou’wester? Or is that just the [raingear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sou%27wester)? This [site](http://www.climate.washington.edu/stormking/), from the Washington State Climatologist seems to agree with you. There is a contact link there so if you are really curious, I’d drop them an email. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/10 "2010-09-08T05:26:39Z")
Just FYI Nor-easters are called that not because they are storms in the Northeast, but because in a nor-easter, the wind comes out of the northeast. It’s the same counter-clockwise rotation as in a hurricane from a low pressure system sitting out off the coast and bringing moisture (rain or snow) and a cold wind. ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-storm/552827/11 "2010-09-08T05:50:55Z")
The terribly violent ones coming out of the southwest are mid-latitude cyclones, according to our weather super-star Cliff Mass. These are different from typhoons in that they are driven by horizontal variations in temperature rather than by huge supplies of warm water vapor, he says (in Chapter 5 of _The Weather of the Pacific Northwest_ (University of Washington Press 2008)). We don’t call them mid-latitude cyclones, of course. We call them “big wind storms”. You may be remembering the Hanukkah Eve storm of December 2006. It is on record as the second most damaging storm in Washington history, after the famous Columbus Day storm of 1962. The Columbus Day storm itself began as a tropical storm (Typhoon Freda) but changed in character to a mid-latitude cyclone before reaching the U.S. coast. The terribly cold windstorms coming out of the north are not cyclones but an outflow from the Fraser Valley. I grew up calling them “northeasters”, although lately I notice a lot of people going with the “nor’easter” variant. It sounds a bit New Englandy to me, but it seems to be the majority pronunciation now. Me, I’m sticking with the “th”.