Winter Storm Yolo? Weather Channel Unveils Names, Including Drake Reference

With winter fast approaching, the Weather Channel announced Tuesday its names for the 2015 season's storms. Among the possible monikers is the once-popular saying for living it up: Yolo.

Alongside Yolo, the Weather Channel listed 25 other possible names for winter storms. The list features Roman references like Hera and Mars but also more modern choices like Jonas and Regis. But Yolo surely stands out as the most peculiar. The names are intended to be shareable via social media and easily pronounceable to help properly warn those in danger about impending storms.

The names were selected with the assistance from Bozeman High School’s Latin Club in Bozeman, Montana, the list then reviewed by senior meteorologist Bryan Norcross who made sure the suggestions were social media friendly since that is "the driving force behind the naming," the Washington Post reported.

Y.O.L.O was made popular as a phrase, and as a hashtag, by the rapper Drake in his 2011 hit "The Motto," from the album "Take Care." It's an acronym for "You Only Live Once." The Weather Channel played it up as a modern twist on the Latin phrase "carpe diem" or "seize the day."

Any storm that poses a significant threat to a portion of the population typically gets a name from the Weather Channel, moving down the list in alphabetical order. The network names storms, a controversial practice in meteorology circles, to attempt to make more people aware, the Weather Channel said. "It's simply easier to communicate about a complex storm if it has a name, which our naming program has demonstrated," Norcross said on the Weather Channel website. "Good communications benefit everyone."

Unlike hurricane names, the monikers the network gives winter storms are unofficial and they have been typically been greeted with some backlash and skepticism.

The Weather Channel started naming winter storms in 2012-13. Yolo is the 25th of the 26 names in the alphabetical queue this year. In the three seasons the network has named winter storms, there have been at least 25 qualifying storms twice.

That means there is a decent chance the world could see "Winter Storm Yolo." As Drake would say: "What a time to be alive."