Met Éireann, along with the National Weather Services of the UK Met Office and the Netherlands national weather service station, has released the list of new storm names for the 2024/2025 storm season, which starts on Sunday (September 1).
Storms are named when they could cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts in one of the three partner countries.
Each of the three meteorological services has contributed seven names to this season’s list.
Met Éireann’s contributions have been taken from a list of more than 500 suggestions by primary school children participating in ESB Science Blast last February.
The names chosen by Met Éireann include: Conall; Darragh; Naoise; Poppy; Hugo; Izzy; and Vivienne.
The full 2024/25 list also included: Ashley; Bert; Éowyn; Floris; Gerben; James; Kayleigh; Lewis; Mavis; Otje; Rafi; Sayuri; Tilly; and Wren.
Storms are named alphabetically avoiding the letters Q, U, X, Y or Z to conform with international standards.
When a storm is forecast, the national weather service that expects the biggest impact from the severe weather to hit its region or is likely to be first affected by it, names the storm.
Those warnings are, in turn, issued based on a combination of numerical thresholds and the potential impacts foreseen.
New storms
Storm naming happens in conjunction with orange/red weather warnings, which could be for wind, rain or snow or a combination of these conditions.
When any National Met Service names a weather system, all others keep that name.
This includes ex-hurricanes named by the US National Hurricane Center such as Ophelia (October 16, 2017), which had major impacts in Ireland when it crossed the Atlantic.
Head of the Forecasting Division in Met Éireann, Eoin Sherlock said: “Our key priority is to help protect life and property from extreme weather and ensure the safety of our communities. Year after year storm naming proves effective for that.
“Naming each storm increases the level of public safety and preparedness as people are more likely to remember and respond to warnings when storms are named.”
Met Éireann has warned that Ireland is entering “storm season”, and has warned the public to be “winter ready”, by staying up to date on the latest forecasts and warnings.