"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
snip
The names are given by the Free University of Berlin - the practice
started
there in 1954. Since 1990 they have become more widely known and are
now
routinely used in the German media. The history of the naming of
lows and
highs is explained in German here
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate/historie/ .
snip
In 2002 it seemed that - because of lack of funds - the Berlin-Dahlem
station 10381 of the FU Berlin would have to stop 24-hour manual
recording
of the weather and rely largely on more limited automatic
observations.
snip
To raise funds they hit on the idea of asking people to "sponsor" a
depression or anticyclone. For a payment of 299 euros (anticyclone)
or 199
euros (depression) the FU Berlin will use your name - or any other
name you
choose - for a pressure system
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate/ .

.... many thanks for giving us that fascinating insight! It strikes me
that the accountants down on FitzRoy Road might like to take the matter
further: we could have lows and highs sponsored by commercial
organisations! A useful addition to the money made out of the Met Office
web site .... the Synoptic Review's would make interesting reading:-

" Low 'Sainsburys' is currently languishing as an illdefined
structure over southern Britain as High 'Tesco' continues to dominate
further north. Meanwhile, wave depression 'Morrisons' is poised to sweep
northeastwards transforming the situation across the entire country ".

[PS - if this actually happens ... I thought of it first ;-)]

Martin.