Here It Comes

Our 15 minutes of fame in the form of an eponymous snowstorm. The Bozeman Chronicle reports:

Weather Channel winter storm Bozeman forecast.

Winter Storm Bozeman is heading our way and, fittingly, it’s bringing snow.

TV’s Weather Channel announced Thursday that it has given a name to the second big storm of the winter season because it meets the channel’s criteria of affecting at least 2 million people.

Some 2.6 million residents from Oregon to Montana are under storm warnings, reported Tom Noziol, the Weather Channel’s winter weather expert.

The storm is named Bozeman in honor of Bozeman High School’s Latin classes, which compiled an alphabetical list of storm names based on Latin and Greek words for the Weather Channel.

Winter Storm Bozeman is carrying moist air from the Pacific to the Rockies and, by Saturday, on to the Midwest and Great Lakes. Forecasters predicted the storm would drop between a foot and 18 inches snow on Yellowstone National Park.

The Bozeman High School students were having trouble coming up with a B name. They moved in another direction.

Bozeman’s Latin students proposed naming the second storm of the season Bella, but the Weather Channel surprised them in October by changing the B name to Bozeman.

The other names have classical names, from Astro to Zelus (Greek for star and zeal). One name – Thor – comes from Norse mythology.

Winter Storm Astro killed four people on car crashes on icy roads in Minnesota, dumped 14 inches of snow on Whitefish and brought wind gusts of 63 mph to Bozeman, the Weather Channel reported Nov. 12.

Bozeman High students in Erika Shupe’s first-year Latin students were excited by the news that a storm was named Bozeman. Shupe added she was shocked to see that on some weather maps, Bozeman is now listed as a reference point instead of Billings.

“Wow,” said freshman Josiah Schwahn, 14. “I can’t believe a little tiny town is getting this huge fame. Millions of people watch (the Weather Channel).”

“I think it’s exciting because no one ever hears about Bozeman – it’s always Helena or Billings,” said Grace Mauro, 15.

“I’m a little concerned,” said Finn Wimberly, 14. “Bozeman is a small town, with skiing and lots of outdoor activities. I don’t want it to get too overpopulated. It’s nice to get a little attention.”

“I think it’s pretty cool, having our little Latin I class able to name winter storms,” said Connor Devine, 14. “It’s pretty cool even to have a Latin I class, because Latin is dead.”

This is the most exciting thing to have happened in Bozeman since, well, the new Five Guys opened up on North 19th Street last week.

Here is the link to the video of the High School class learning live of the name change. Go Hawks!

Have a good day and good luck to all.