Met Office: Storms to be named after UK weather responders

Along with other meteorological organisations like Met Eireann in Ireland and KNMI in the Netherlands, the Met Office names storms expected to have a "medium" or "high" impact on people across the three countries.

The three weather services work together to compile a list of names before the next season.

Will Lang, head of situational awareness at the Met Office, said: “This is the ninth year of us naming storms and we do it because it works.

Future storms could be named after UK weather responders (PA) (Image: PA)

“Naming storms helps to ease communication of severe weather and provides clarity when people could be impacted by the weather.”

Met Office says some storms to be named after UK weather response workers

Among those proposed included Ciaran Fearon who works for the Department of Infrastructure in Northern Ireland sharing information about river level and coastal flooding.

He said: “With the effects of climate change, we are more aware than ever of how weather can affect us all in every aspect of our daily lives.

“We need to respect each weather event and this work, particularly during periods of severe weather and storms, helps to ensure that we are all as well prepared as possible to help reduce the impact of such events.”

Debi Garft, a recently retired senior policy officer in the Scottish Government flooding team has been named after helping to form the Scottish Flood Forum and the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service.

She said: “It is important that we all take steps to protect ourselves, our family and property by preparing for extreme weather events.

“Checking the Sepa (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) flood maps to see if your property or business is at flood risk, signing up for free Sepa Floodline local flood warnings and regional flood alerts, and using the daily Scottish Flood Forecast are great first steps.”

List of names to be used by the Met Office to label storms (PA) (Image: PA)

Future storms could be named after Beano characters after Minnie the Minx-inspired name added to list

The name Minnie is to be included and is inspired by the Beano character Minnie the Minx, after the use of Dennis in 2020.

Regina Simmons, who works for the Natural Resources Wales Warning and Informing Team has also been listed.

She said: “So many people think that flooding won’t happen to them. The first thing we can all do is check if our area is at risk of flooding before the rain starts to fall.”

Stuart Sampson, who has worked for nearly 20 years managing water supplies in times of drought for the Environment Agency, was also added with him saying: “Our weather is a great conversation starter. Giving a storm a name means we can all talk about an event with a clear and common understanding.

“Everyone knows what you mean by Hurricane Katrina, for example, you know the magnitude and impacts that had on America. But if you said the low-pressure cyclone it would not resonate as much.

“By naming storms, this will help everyone be better prepared and in the conversation.”