How Met Office decides on bad weather names every year as Storm Isha approaches
Storm Isha is barrelling its way towards the UK, with the entirety of Britain under yellow and amber weather warnings for wind and rain on Monday.
Fierce gales of up to 80mph could batter some areas at the weekend, the Met Office warned, with all parts of the country expected to experience stronger than usual winds. It comes as a spell of cold Arctic air is replaced by an Atlantic weather system, which will see a return to milder temperatures - but also a new wave of wet and windy conditions.
Heavy rain is also expected, with 30mm to 50mm falling widely and the potential for large peaks of 80mm to 100mm over hills. Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to have the the UK in three months and comes shortly after Storm Henk hit our shores in early January. But how does the Met Office decide upon the names of storms?
Why do storms get named?
The aim behind naming storms is to try and provide a single, authoritative label for an event that can help people communicate clearly about it. The reason storms get named is quite important - as it's to provide clear communication, which can make all the difference in a crisis. So the hope of the naming system is to contribute to keeping people and property as safe as possible in the face of extreme weather.
How does a storm get named?
The UK Met Office, Ireland's Met Éireann or the Netherlands's KNMI are responsible for naming storms, depending on which outfit declares the storm to warrant an amber or red warning. Here in the UK, the Met Office flags a storm using the National Severe Weather Warnings service, which looks at the potential impact of weather events and the likelihood of such events actually occurring.
Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts
This weather map video shows Storm Isha barrelling towards the UK as Brits brace for gale force winds and heavy rain (metoffice/Twitter)What will the next storm be called?
Dutch weather agency KNMI named seven weather systems in the 2023-24 storm season - including Henk which was submitted by someone who visited an open day at the agency's headquarters in October 2022. We've already had storms Agnes, Babet, Ciaran, Debi, Elin, Fergus and Gerrit. With Storm Isha to hit from next week, the remaining named storms will be
- Jocelyn
- Kathleen
- Lilian
- Minnie
- Nicholas
- Olga
- Piet
- Regina
- Stuart
- Tamiko
- Vincent
- Walid
How do other countries name their storms?
The British, Irish and Dutch weather agencies make up the western European storm naming group. Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, France and Belgium, form the south western group that collaborate to name storms, while Norway, Sweden and Denmark are the northern group. In the US, the National Hurricane Centre names tropical storms when they have reached winds of least 40mph, using the six alphabetical lists that are maintained by the World Meteorological Organisation. These lists are used on a six-year cycle.
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