Ashley, Bert, Conall and Darragh are the first four names on the list of new storm titles for the 2024/2025 storm season.
Also selected are Éowyn, Floris, Gerben, Hugo, Izzy, James, Kayleigh, Lewis, Mavis, Naoise, Otje, Poppy, Rafi, Sayuri, Tilly, Vivienne and Wren.
The names in bold type above are those selected by Met Éireann, and the list has been released on the eve of the new storm season which starts this Sunday, September 1st.
Met Éireann, along with the National Weather Services of the UK (Met Office) and the Netherlands (KNMI) 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.
Eoin Sherlock, Head of Forecasting Division in Met Éireann, said that “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,”he said.
“Ireland, and the world, are experiencing the effects of severe weather events more frequently and more intensely as a result of climate change. We see how severe wind and rain events can directly impact public health, safety, and livelihoods,”he said.
“ Now more than ever, it is crucial for younger generations to understand these risks so that they can safeguard their future by driving societal change, and their involvement in the names selection this year is proof of Met Éireann’s commitment to support their weather and climate awareness,”Sherlock added.
Met Éireann is advising people to “Be Winter Ready”, as public safety advice outlines, and to stay up to date on the latest forecasts and warnings on met.ie or on Met Éireann’s app.
Storms are named when they could cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts in one of the three partner countries.
The forecasting services say this “enables consistent and authoritative messaging to the public and other stakeholders to enable them to prepare for and stay safe during potentially severe weather events”.
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.
Storm naming happens in conjunction with orange/red weather warnings,which could be for wind, rain or snow or a combination of these conditions.
Those warnings are, in turn, issued based on a combination of numerical thresholds and the potential impacts foreseen.
Since 2015, Met Éireann and the UK Met Office have been working together on the naming programme and were joined by the Netherland’s KNMI in 2019.
UK Met Office Head of Situational Awareness Will Lang, said that “this is the tenth year of us naming storms and we do it because it works”.
“For Storm Babet, which brought exceptional rainfall to parts of eastern Scotland in October 2023, post event surveys suggest 97% of people within the amber and red warning areas were aware of the warnings and 89% of them took action as a result,”he said.
“This year, as we celebrate our 170th birthday, it’s great to be able to honour those who have had an impact on our long history of pioneering weather and climate science services,”Lang said.
KNMI Senior Forecaster and Team Manager Jos Diepeveen explained that in their list of nominated names, “Gerben” was suggested because it is "a powerful name".
He said it also accepted a suggestion by a man who proposed the name of his girlfriend Kayleigh, because "she is the sunshine in their house."
Other National Meteorological Service groups in the US and Europe also name storms.
When any National Met Service names a weather system, all others keep that name.
This includes ex-hurricanes named by the US National Hurricane Centre such as Charley (25th August 1986) and Ophelia (16th October 2017), which had major impacts in Ireland when they crossed the Atlantic.
