SOME storms are more severe than others, and to raise awareness to the public about them, the Met Office decided to start naming them.
Now it has released the new names that storms happening between 2022 and 2023 will be given.
What will the next storm be named?
A new season is starting and that means that the names will start again from the letter A.
The next storm that will cause a medium or high alert in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands will be named Antoni.
The storm will include of elements such as strong winds, rain and snow.
During 2022 we had storms named Dudley, Eunice and Franklin.
Storms are given names to raise more awareness and people take more safety precautions
Storm Eunice saw a rare red alert issued with four killed in the UK.
What are the Met Office storm names for 2022/2023?
Every major storm will be named according to the list, ordered alphabetically.
- Antoni
- Betty
- Cillian
- Daisy
- Elliot
- Fleur
- Glen
- Hendrika
- Ída
- Johanna
- Khalid
- Loes
- Mark
- Nelly
- Owain
- Priya
- Ruadhán
- Sam
- Tobias
- Val
- Wouter
Why are there no storms for Q, U, X, Y and Z?
To ensure the Met Office is in line with the US National Hurricane Centre naming conventions, it does not include names which begin with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z.
This is to ensure consistency for official storm naming in the North Atlantic – to reduce confusion for fellow weather experts, sea captains and pilots.
In America, when all the names in the storm alphabet are used, the naming convention follows the Greek alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma…).
Why did the UK start naming storms?
Analysis has shown that naming storms makes people more aware of the severe weather and helps them prepare for them in advance.
Surveys showed people were more aware of the threat and more likely to take action after hearing the name of a storm, rather than a forecast simply saying bad weather is on the way.
The Met Office and its Irish counterpart Met Eireann decided to follow the US system of giving girls and boys’ names to tropical storms and hurricanes.
Is there a difference between male and female storms?
A study of American hurricanes has shed light on an alarming pattern and explained that more people are killed by “female” storms than those with male names.
The reason why is all down to how we subconsciously view gender, since we’re more likely to assume that storms with female names will be less dangerous.
This means people end up taking fewer precautions to protect themselves, according to researchers at the University of Illinois.
Incredibly, the 2014 study added that the more feminine the name, the more people a storm is likely to kill.
The researchers even suggested that changing a hurricane’s name from Charley to Eloise could triple the number of fatalities.
Co-author Sharon Shavitt, a professor at the University of Illinois, said: “In judging the intensity of a storm, people appear to be applying their beliefs about how men and women behave.”
