Storm names for 2022-23 announced
by Kirsty McCabe, FRMetS
The storm names chosen for the 2022/23 season have been revealed – so brace yourself for Betty, look out for Loes and hope we don’t get to Wouter!
The Met Office, Met Éireann and KNMI have announced the storm names they have selected to reflect the diversity of the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. The Met Office’s names in the list have come through submissions from the public, with Daisy, Glen, Khalid and Owain some of those submitted, showing the breadth of names in use across the UK. Over 12,000 votes were cast on twitter to select the name for the letter B, with Betty winning the public vote.
Met Éireann’s submissions include Cillian, Fleur, Íde, and Nelly. Meanwhile, KNMI’s selected names, including Antoni, Hendrika, Johanna and Loes, are named after influential Dutch scientists.
The 2022-23 UK storm season runs from September 2022 through to the end of August 2023, with storms given a name when they are forecast to cause medium or high impacts in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands. The first storm to be named this year will be Antoni, followed in alphabetical order by Betty then Cillian. Just like the US National Hurricane Center naming conventions, there are no storms for Q, U, X, Y and Z.
To avoid any confusion over naming, if a storm is the remnants of a tropical storm or hurricane that has moved across the Atlantic, the well-established method of referring to it as, for example, “ex-hurricane Kirsty” will continue. Similarly, if a storm is named by a different storm naming group and impacts the UK, the given name will be used in communications, as occurred with Storm Malik in January 2022.
First introduced by the Met Office and Met Éireann (Ireland’s National Meteorological Service) in 2015, this is the eighth year of the Name our Storms campaign to help raise awareness of the potential impacts of severe weather by providing consistent, authoritative messaging. In 2019, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the Dutch national weather forecasting service, joined the collaboration.
Does naming storms really help?
While the names of the storm can be light-hearted, the impacts from storms can be severe. Last year, Storm Eunice was responsible for England’s record gust speed of 122 mph. In addition to strong winds, impacts from rain and snow will also be considered when it comes to naming storms.
Following Storm Eunice, Met Office post-event surveys show that 98% of those within the red warning area for Storm Eunice were aware of the warning, and 91% of those took action to protect themselves, their property or business. During Storm Eunice, which was the strongest storm to impact England and Wales since February 2014, the National Highways reported 21% less traffic on the roads in England on 18 February 2022 as people amended plans to stay safe.
The full list of 2022-23 storm names can be found below.
To find out more about the Name our Storms project you can visit the Met Office Storm Centre website.
