Met Office: Storm names grab British’s attention

The names Isha, Babet, and Henk will all be familiar to Britons, but not because they belong to people — they are some of the most destructive stoarms that have swept through the UK in the past year.

In an almost decade-long initiative, the UK Met Office has been naming storms that pose a significant risk to the British public. The program, which is conducted jointly with weather agencies in Ireland and the Netherlands, has made communicating the dangers of these weather events easier, inspiring people to prepare and protect themselves from high winds and flood waters, according to the Met Office’s Stephen Dixon. 2022’s Eunice and 2021’s Arwen also succeeded in capturing the national attention, appearing on newspaper front pages and at the top of news bulletins.

Dixon, who is a senior press officer, is part of the group that selects the roster of names every year. Names are chosen from public submissions or sometimes meteorological department colleagues make eponymous suggestions to honor those who are involved in severe weather responses. They are given out in alphabetical order as the storm season, which starts in September each year, runs its course. A storm is named when meteorologists think it’s likely to cause disruption or damage, through snow, wind or flooding.

Dixon spoke with Bloomberg Green about the UK’S unusually stormy winter this year and why communicating the dangers of severe weather is becoming more important, especially as global warming makes the impact of some events worse. A study from World Weather Attribution last month found the extreme rainfall that accompanied Storm Babet in October 2023 was made more likely and intense by climate change.