Exeter based Met Office reveal names of next year's storms - did yours make the list?
Atiyah will be the first storm to hit the UK and Ireland this winter, according to the new list of names for this year’s strongest weather systems.
Also on the list of storm names for 2019-20 announced by the Exeter based Met Office on Friday are Ciara, Francis, Gerda, Maura, Noah, Piet, Samir, Willow and Olivia.
Olivia was the most popular name for girls in England and Wales for the third year in succession, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data last month.
It is the fifth year that the Met Office and Met Eireann have run the Name our Storms campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the impact of severe weather before it hits.
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This year they have been joined by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the Dutch national weather forecasting service.
Gerard van der Steenhoven, director general at the KNMI, said: “We are looking forward to working closely with the UK Met Office and Met Eireann.
“Storms are not confined to national borders, so it makes sense to give common names to such extreme weather events.
“As many people are travelling – 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.”
The season’s names have been compiled from a list of submissions by the public, choosing some of the most popular names and also selecting those which reflect the diversity of the three nations.
The alphabetical list of names skips Q, U, X, Y and Z to comply with international storm-naming conventions.
Derrick Ryall, head of public weather services at the Met Office, said: “We were delighted with the public response to our call for names earlier this year and are really pleased storm naming has been embraced by press, media and public to better communicate the potential impacts of severe weather, so people are better prepared when it matters.
“Now coming into the fifth year of the Name our Storms campaign, we look forward to continuing our successful relationship with Met Eireann, our partner in Ireland, and are delighted to welcome our new partners from KNMI.”
Evelyn Cusack, head of forecasting at Met Eireann, said:
The full list of storm names for 2019-20 is: Atiyah, Brendan, Ciara, Dennis, Ellen, Francis, Gerda, Hugh, Iris, Jan, Kitty, Liam, Maura, Noah, Olivia, Piet, Roisin, Samir, Tara, Vince and Willow.