are blizzards now being named as are hurricanes?

No. I'm sure you are referring to The Weather Channel naming winter storms. TWC's naming of winter storms is not official and is not affiliated with NOAA.

only "Significant" winter storms are being named as of November 2012 by "The Weather Channel" only. This is not endorsed in any way by NOAA or NWS. NWS believes it is unnecessary and will cause confusion to the general public. So its not necessarily blizzards. To qualify as a blizzard, there must be maximum sustained winds of 35 mph for a minimum duration of 4 hours with precipitation as blowing snow. and a wind force at 7 or greater on the Beaufort scale. Not to be confused with TWC new system known as "Stormcon" index. Not all winter storms will be named by TWC only those with impacts. So storms less than blizzards will be named as well as blizzards

Edit: Thumbs down huh? wow! somebody disagrees with a book where i listed the isbn number and the NWS website. duh. maybe yahoo needs to research the credibilty of some of these hack critics

Box 1927, what makes you say that? What we have in certain areas, are snow storms or what are also known as blizzards in some parts, but with tornadoes added into the mix, which makes the situation very hazardous.

Well that's where we are, I don't know about you box.

The Weather Channel needs to calm down and take a step back. I know they're trying to sell the weather, but they're starting to skew the way that people think about it. And it's just not accurate when they start renaming weather phenomena, making up scales, and sensationalizing events. It's good that they cover such events, though.

Only the Weather Channel is doing this, for whatever reason. It is not an official thing and the National Weather Service does not do this.