#nameourstorms - Met Office calls for public submissions

There are certain names which will always be associated with weather. Katrina, Mitch and Haiyan where hurricanes and typhoons which killed thousands and cost hundreds of millions to clean up after.

For decades tropical storms which hit land in the USA or Asia have been given popular names. Now the Met Office wants us to follow suit in the UK. They believe the naming of storms which may hit our shores will help raise public awareness of severe weather events and they want our help to come up with the names.

The move follows the amount of media attention given to a storm which battered southern England on the 28th October 2013. Four people died after being crushed by fallen trees. The media dubbed it 'St Jude's Day Storm' and the Met Office believe the use of a name helped to spread the message of the advancing storm.

Storms have been officially named in the USA since since the 1950s. Lists of names are drawn up in advance and given to severe weather systems starting at 'a' in the alphabet and working through the list as the year progresses. This year's list is: Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fred, Grace, Henri, Ida, Joaquin, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor, Wanda.

In cases like Katrina (the costliest) and Mitch (the deadliest) the names of the worst sotrms are retired so they'll never be used again.

The Met Office plans to use a similar system from this autumn onwards. The list will alternate between female and male names. The key difference is that we can all play a part in choosing the names.

If you want to submit a name to be considered you can tweet @metoffice using #nameourstorms, visit the Met Office's Facebook page or email pressoffice@metoffice.gov.uk.