Agnes, Olga, Piet and Stuart: Met Office reveals storm names for 2023/24

Storm clouds gather over a sail boat in the North Sea.
The UK and Ireland were impacted by two named storms in the 2022/23 season. Credit: PA

The Met Office has announced its list of storm names for 2023/24 to coincide with the start of the new meteorological autumn.

Babet, Jocelyn and Walid are among the names that have been compiled by the Met Office, in partnership with Ireland's Met Éireann and KNMI forecasting service in the Netherlands.

The group named two storms during the 2022/23 storm season - Antoni and Betty, which impacted the UK and Ireland in August.

However, as per international agreements, the group also adopted the names Otto and Noa, which were named by other meteorological organisations in February and April respectively and had residual impacts on the UK.

For this season, storm names were selected from public submissions and the names of those involved in responses to severe weather.

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Storm names for 2023/24

The following names have been selected for the 2023/24 storm season:

  • Agnes

  • Babet

  • Ciarán

  • Debi

  • Elin

  • Fergus

  • Gerrit

  • Henk

  • Isha

  • Jocelyn

  • Kathleen

  • Lilian

  • Minnie

  • Nicholas

  • Olga

  • Piet

  • Regina

  • Stuart

  • Tamiko

  • Vincent

  • Walid

Why do we name storms?

Storms are named to aid communication when severe weather is in the forecast. Doing so can help everyone to keep themselves, their property and businesses safe and protected at times of severe weather.

For Storm Eunice, which impacted the UK in 2022, 99% of people within the red warning area in the southeast were aware of the warnings, highlighting how effective storm naming is as a communications tool.

Sometimes, as happened earlier this year, storms are named by different national meteorological services. When this occurs, the Met Office, Met Éireann and KNMI will adopt the given name.

Met Office Head of Situational Awareness Will Lang said: "This year, it's great to be able to recognise the collaborative efforts of some of our partners across the UK with the inclusion of names from some partner organisations.

"Working across different agencies allows us to help as many people as possible be prepared for severe weather."

How are storm names chosen?

Every year, the three forecasting bodies asks for suggestions from members of the public. A list of names is then compiled using these suggestions with an aim to reflect the diversity across the different countries.

Storms are named in alphabetical order, although letters further down the alphabet are far less likely to be used.

Some of the names selected for the 2023/24 season are of people who work to protect the public in times of severe weather.

For example, Ciarán was submitted by the public but is also the name of Ciarán Fearon, who works for the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

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Storms are named to aid communication in the event of a severe weather forecast. Credit: PA

He uses Met Office forecasts on a regular basis and ensures relevant information is shared on river levels, coastal flooding and other impacts of severe weather.

The French, Spanish and Portuguese metrological services, meanwhile, have joined together in a similar fashion, naming storms from their own combined list. As storm systems do not have boundaries, sometimes storms named by other centres may appear in the UK media as they bring impacts to British Isles too.

From time to time the remnants of Ex-Hurricanes and Ex-Tropical Storms track across the Atlantic and arrive in the UK. When this happens we retain the name given by the American National Hurricane Center to avoid confusion.

If you would like to submit your storm name suggestions, you can email nameourstorms@metoffice.gov.uk

When do we name storms?

Storms will get named by the group when they're deemed to have the potential to cause 'medium' or 'high' impacts in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands.

Wind is the primary consideration for naming a storm, but additional impacts from rain or snow will also be considered in the naming process.

Why are there no storm names for Q, U, X, Y and Z?

As is the case for the United States Hurricane Centre, storms in the UK are not named using the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z.

When does the storm season start?

In the UK, the storm season starts on September 1 - which also marks the beginning of the meteorological autumn - and runs until the end of August the following year.

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