Storm Names For 2019-2020 Released

Atiyah, Brendan, Maura and Samir are among the names listed for the 2019-2020 storm season.

The Dutch National Weather Service (KNMI) has joined Met Éireann and the UK Met Office for the first time in the Name our Storm campaign, which raises awareness of the threats of severe weather in Ireland and Britain before it hits.

A storm is named by a National Met Service when Orange or Red level winds are forecast to impact over a wide land area. These can occur in exposed areas without the event being named.

Once a storm is named by any National Met Service globally, that name is retained if the storm moves into Irish waters. For example: Ophelia was named by the National Hurricane Center in the USA and Emma by IPMA in Portugal.

This summer, Met Éireann and the UK Met Office received thousands of suggestions from the public following a call for people to send in ideas for future storm names. The three national met services then worked together to compile the suggested names and chose some of the most popular along with those that reflect the three nations' diversity.

The full list of names is as follows: Atiyah, Brendan, Clara, Dennis, Ellen, Francis, Gerda, Hugh, Iris, Jan, Kitty, Liam, Maura, Noah, Olivia, Piet, Róisín, Samir, Tara, Vince, Willow.

Evelyn Cusack, Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann and Chair of the European Storm Naming Group, 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."

Gerard van der Steenhoven, Director General at Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, added: "As storms are not confined to national borders, it makes a lot of sense to give common names to such extreme weather events. As many people are traveling – 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. For us at KNMI, it is a great privilege and advantage to work – from now on – in close co-operation with our colleagues from Ireland and the UK in the communication about storms."