Martin Rowley wrote in message ...
:... How do these organisations get a return on the sponsorship?

I suppose there is no financial return - it is more of a charitable
donation.

On its website MeteoSolutions http://www.meteosolutions.de/ says that it
has sponsored an anticyclone and a depression "to support the continuing
existence of the climate station at Berlin-Dahlem".

The owner of the Heilbronn Food Court-Biergarten says on its website
http://www.foodcourt.de/Service/Soziales that he believes companies have a
duty nowadays to give financial support to local social institutions - the
firm supports a kindergarten and the town library among other things. It
makes no mention of support for the weather station though.

An open air catering establishment obviously has an interest in fine
weather. The FU Berlin website does point out however - in case anyone
believes otherwise - that sponsoring a pressure system does not mean you can
influence the weather itself !

:I have noted that the named pressure features have turned up in
:scientific journals from time to time, so are increasingly accepted
utside Germany.

The names became more widely known outside Berlin and meteorological circles
as a result of the severe gales in February 1990. The damaging storms
"Vivian" and "Wiebke" became general news items and the use of the names has
become routine when the weather is "news" - just as the names of severe
hurricanes become known.

Colin Youngs
Brussels