Storm Kathleen is just the latest round of extreme weather to hit the UK, pushing the Met Office further down the list of alphabetically names storms.
This weekend will see snow, rain and wind across the UK with forecasters issuing yellow weather warnings for Storm Kathleen.
It is the 11th named storm of the 2023-2024 season, making it the joint msot stormy period since storms were named in 2015.
Storm Jocelyn – which battered the country with yet more fierce winds and heavy rain in January – marks only the second time the letter J has been reached since the UK started naming storms in 2015.
It came hot on the heels of Storm Isha, which saw almost the whole of the UK placed under Met Office weather warnings over the weekend.
It also means this season’s tally of 11 storms in six months will be the most named storms in a single season for seven years.
The furthest Britain reached in a named storm season was March 2016, when Storm Katie ruined barbecues and travel plans over Easter weekend.
Keep reading to find out how storms get their names, and what the next storms could be called.
How did Storm Kathleen get its name?
A list of storm names is compiled each season – which runs from September to late August – by the UK’s Met Office Storm and its counterparts in Ireland and the Netherlands.
Storms are named when they risk ‘disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning’ in any of the three countries, the Met Office says.
This decision is based on forecasts of wind strength and levels of rain or snow.
The names are selected from a list based on public nominations and tributes to real people by each weather agency.
Storm Kathleen was named by the Irish service as the more significant impacts are likely to be felt in the Republic or Ireland.
Storm Jocelyn was named by Ireland’s weather agency, Met Eireann, on Monday, January 22, while Isha was named by the Met Office the previous Friday.
Storm Henk, was chosen by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute based on a visitor’s suggestion.
Storm Agnes, the first official storm of the 2023/24 season, was named after Agnes Mary Clerke, a noted 19th-century Irish astronomer.
Babet was chosen by Dutch meteorologists in honour of a woman who visited their offices and entered her name into the lot, saying it should be chosen as she was born during a storm.
The next took the first name of Ciarán Fearon, who works for the Department Of Infrastructure helping monitor signs of flooding in Northern Ireland.
Mr Fearon previously told Civil Service World: ‘With the effects of climate change, we are more aware than ever of how weather can affect us all in every aspect of our daily lives.’
What are the next storms of 2024 going to be called?
Jocelyn is the third named storm of 2024, coming just a couple of days after Isha and only weeks after Henk.
If there are any more named storms before the end of the current season in September, here’s what the next few will be called:
- Lilian
- Minnie
- Nicholas
- Olga
Full list of UK and Ireland storm names for 2023/24
The UK and Ireland storm names for the 2023/24 storm season are as follows:
- Agnes
- Babet
- Ciarán
- Debi
- Elin
- Fergus
- Gerrit
- Henk
- Isha
- Jocelyn
- Kathleen
- Lilian
- Minnie
- Nicholas
- Olga
- Piet
- Regina
- Stuart
- Tamiko
- Vincent
- Walid
How are UK storm names chosen?
The Met Office publishes a list of storm namesahead of each winter season. The list runs from early September to late August the following year.
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The Met Office collaborates with Met Éireann and the KNMI to name storms based on suggestions sent in by the public.
People can send in their own suggestions by emailingnameourstorms@metoffice.gov.uk.
Why do storms have names?
Storms are named simply to help make people more aware of severe incoming weather.
The idea is that when you hear a storm named you’ll know to expect heavy rain, dangerous winds or snowfall.
The Met Office and the Irish equivalent Met Éireann decided to begin naming storms after a survey revealed peoplebecame more aware of extreme weather warnings once the storm was given a name.
In responseto the results, a list of names was drawn up from suggestions from the public which has given us the likes of Storm Eunice and Storm Dudley in recent years.
However, naming storms is not a new phenomenon as the US National Hurricane Centre has named tropical storms since 1953. This makes it easier to refer to Atlantic tropical storms when tracking them and ensures the public will always know exactly what storm is on its way.
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Since the regions of the mid-Atlantic are so often plagued with tropical storms that evolve into hurricanes, it makes sense to distinguish between them – with the US and the Caribbean suffering severe damages from the likes of Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria in recent years.
When is a storm named?
A name is given to a storm when it is expected to reach an amber or a red warning level.
The warnings are issued by the Met Office National Severe Weather Warning Service when extreme weather conditions like rain, wind, snow, ice, fog and high temperatures are forecasted.
Red, amber, yellow or green weather warnings are based on guidance from the National Severe Weather Warning Service, and are decided by a combination of both the impact the weather may have and the likelihood of those impacts happening.
Why are storms never given Q, U, X, Y or Z names?
Looking at the above list, you’ll note no UK and Ireland storms begin with the letters, Q, U, X, Y or Z.
All three of the aforementioned organisations behind storm naming address this when announcing new names, stating the decision is to stay ‘in line with the US National Hurricane Centre naming convention’.
It also ‘maintains consistency for official storm naming in the North Atlantic’.
According to AccuWeather’s senior meteorologist, Dan Pydynowski, other parts of the world do use some of these letters when naming their tropical storms or cyclones.
He explained: ‘The East Pacific uses X, Y and Z, while the Atlantic does not… the East Pacific averages more named storms per year. Thus, more names are needed in an average year and there is a better chance [of reaching] the end of the list.’
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