Storm names announced for 2019-20: Is yours on the list?

Atiyah, Hugh, Maura and Willow could be blowing across Britain this year as the Met Office and Met Eireann announce storm names for 2019-20.

The two weather offices ran a Name Our Storms campaign for the fifth year in a row, and were joined this year by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the Dutch national weather forecasting service.

Also among the names of the storms are Ciara, Kitty and Roisin.

Derrick Ryall, head of public weather services at the Met Office, said: “We were delighted with the public response to our call for names earlier this year and are really pleased storm naming has been embraced by press, media and public to better communicate the potential impacts of severe weather, so people are better prepared when it matters.

“Now coming into the fifth year of the Name our Storms campaign, we look forward to continuing our successful relationship with Met Eireann, our partner in Ireland, and are delighted to welcome our new partners from KNMI.”

Evelyn Cusack, head of forecasting at Met Eireann, said: “The naming of storms by National Met Services as well as colour coding weather warnings provides a clear, authoritative and consistent message to the public and prompts people to take action to prevent harm to themselves or to their property.

“We are overwhelmed with the huge response to our public call for storm names – please don’t be too disappointed if your name hasn’t been used as you will get another chance next year.”

Gerard van der Steenhoven, director general at the KNMI, said they decided to join forces with the UK and Ireland’s offices because storms “are not confined to national borders”.

He added: “As many people are travelling – sometimes on a daily basis – between our countries, the use of common names will make it a lot easier for them to appreciate the hazards represented by a large storm system.”

The alphabetical list skips letters Q, U X, Y, and Z in line with international storm-naming conventions.

The full list is: Atiyah, Brendan, Ciara, Dennis, Ellen, Francis, Gerda, Hugh, Iris, Jan, Kitty, Liam, Maura, Noah, Olivia, Piet, Roisin, Samir, Tara, Vince and Willow.

(c) Sky News 2019: Storm names announced for 2019-20: Is yours on the list?