Storm Larry? Met Office invites suggestions for storm names
Written by News on 30/07/2019
Britain’s next major storm could be named after you, under a new competition opening today.
The Met Office is inviting suggestions for its official list of what it calls severe weather events.
Storms are named to increase public awareness of them to help people take action earlier to stay safe.
Submissions are open for around a week for people to post on Twitter including @metoffice.
The most popular names will be chosen for the upcoming year, with the rest held in reserve for future ones.
Offensive or political leaders’ names will not be considered.
The scheme ran for the first time in 2015, and has provided a batch of names lasting five years.
It is run in conjunction with Met Eireann in Ireland, with both countries pooling their name suggestions to create one shared list.
So far this season the storm names have been Ali, Bronagh, Callum, Deirdre, Erik, Freya, Gareth and Hannah – with Idris due up next.
They always alternate between male and female.
Storm names beginning with Q, U, X, Y and Z are never chosen, to standardise practice with the US National Hurricane Centre.
The Met Office’s announcement on Twitter predictably sparked some humorous suggestions, such as Stormy McStormface.
Others included Storm Larry – after the famous Downing Street cat – as well as Storm Z and Storm Daniels.
The naming system has “been proved to raise awareness of severe weather” and “help people make better decisions so they can stay safe”, said the Met Office’s Derrick Ryall.
(c) Sky News 2019: Storm Larry? Met Office invites suggestions for storm names
