Why do storms have names?

The UK is used to named storms – with some choices sounding sweeter than fierce.

This is chosen by people in the UK storm nameA lot of people end up being named after family members and friends.

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Why do storms have names?

Hurricanes are named to raise awareness when they are likely to have high or moderate impact – and lead to Amber or red weather warnings.

It is thought that people will be more aware and alert to a storm if it is mentioned by human name.

This means they will be more likely to take measures to keep themselves and their property safe if they are told a storm is approaching.

The Met Office says that the criteria used to name storms are based on the National Severe Weather Warning service.

Who chose the storm name?

The Met Office asks the public to put forward name suggestion use the annual online form.

Then, the Met Office made a list based on the names that were common in all submissions, along with some compelling reasons behind them.

One example of the 100,000 names chosen in 2021 is Storm Logan, referring to the “lightning-fast” goalkeeper grandson.

The list runs from early September to late August and includes a name for every letter of the alphabet, except Q, U, Y, X, and Z.

It alternates between male and female for each letter.

When the next storm hits, the next letter of the alphabet will be selected – so the first storm after the start of September will start with an “A”.

Sometimes storms that make landfall in the UK have been named, such as Met Éireann or in Europe.

What if they used all the hurricane names in a year?

Since the Met Office started naming them in 2015, the UK hasn’t had enough storms in a year to run out of names.

Since there is no precedent for this here, we may have to look internationally.

In 2020, the United States ran out of names for hurricanes and so started the alphabet again — this time, labeling it with letters of the Greek alphabet.

So the next storms are called Alpha and Beta.