Public given chance to name UK storms

The Met Office and Irish national forecaster Met Eirrann are to run a pilot project that will name severe weather systems affecting the UK.

For the first time in UK meteorological history, forecasters will name the most severe storms in an attempt to raise public awareness of severe weather. Members of the public will be able to suggest names via social media.

Previously, storms have usually been assigned a name on an ad-hoc basis (e.g. the St Jude’s day storm of October 2013 or the Valentine’s day storm in February 2014.

Derrick Ryall, Head of the Public Weather Service at the Met Office, said: “The aim of this pilot is to provide a single authoritative naming system for the storms that affect UK and Ireland.

“We have seen how naming storms elsewhere in the world raises awareness of severe weather before it strikes. We hope that naming storms in line with the official severe weather warnings here will do the same and ensure everyone can keep themselves, their property and businesses safe and protected at times of severe weather.”

The names will be collated and a list compiled to include those proposed by Met Éireann. Storm names will then be taken from this list, in alphabetical order, alternating between male and female names.

The full Met Office press release can be found here.