Met Éireann, along with the UK Met Office and the Netherlands national weather service, has released the list of new storm names for the 2023/2024 season, which starts today (Friday, September 1).
Since 2015, the agencies have been giving storms names when they are likely to cause “medium or high impacts”.
This enables consistent, authoritative messaging to support the public to prepare for, and stay safe during potentially severe weather events, Met Éireann said.
Each of the three meteorological services contributed seven names to this season’s list.
The full 2023/24 list is: Agnes; Babet; Ciarán; Debi; Elin; Fergus; Gerrit; Henk; Isha; Jocelyn; Kathleen; Lilian; Minnie; Nicholas; Olga; Piet; Regina; Stuart; Tamiko; Vincent and Walid.
When a storm is forecast the national weather service that expects the biggest impact from the severe weather to hit its region names the storm.
Storm names
Giving a storm a name happens in conjunction with orange or red weather warnings, which could be for wind, rain or snow or a combination of these conditions.
“Storm naming is an important asset in our warnings arsenal and makes severe weather communications clearer and more effective.
“It connects our weather services more closely to the public, helping us in our mission to protect lives and property and ensuring the safety of our communities, ” Eoin Sherlock, head of the forecasting division in Met Éireann, said.
Met Éireann chose names of eminent Irish/Northern-Irish scientists, to “honour their important contributions to science and benefits for humankind”.
This includes Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke and Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the astrophysicist who discovered the first pulsating radio stars.
Will Lang, UK Met Office head of situational awareness, added: “This is the ninth year of us naming storms and we do it because it works.
“Naming storms helps to ease communication of severe weather and provides clarity when people could be impacted by the weather.”