Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gust cause as new storm names are revealed
FORECASTERS have revealed a list of names for upcoming storms after the chaos sparked by Ellen and Francis last month.
First introduced by Met Eireann and the UK Met Office in 2015, the Name Our Storms campaign has helped raise awareness of the threat and impact of severe weather. From today, the first storm to impact the UK, Ireland or Holland will be named Aiden while the second will be Bella.
Other names include Christoph, Darcy, Evert, Fleur, Gavin, Heulwen, Minne, Naia Oscar, Phoebe, Ravi, Saidhbhin, Tobias, Veronica, and Wilson.
However, in line with the US National Hurricane Centre and due to the low number of names that begin with these letters, storms aren’t called names beginning with Q, U, X, Y and Z.
Meanwhile, the Met Office said a storm will be named when it has the potential to cause an amber or red warning.
Spokesman Will Lang added: “The impacts from Storm Ciara and Dennis earlier this year are still fresh in many people’s minds and although it’s too early to anticipate what weather this autumn and winter will bring, we are prepared with a new list of names to help raise awareness of severe weather before it hits.”
The list has been compiled with suggestions by the public along with names that reflect the diversity of the three nations.
Evelyn Cusack of Met Eireann also urged people “to take action to prevent harm to themselves or to their property” after a stormy end to the summer months.