How does Met Office choose storm names? Betty, Glen and Khalid on list for new season

Zoe Tidman
·2 min read

The Met Office has revealed what storms will be called in the coming season.

Earlier this year the UK was battered by storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, following the relatively recent tradition of naming the major weather events in alphabetical order.

The new additions for 2022/23 include Antoni, Betty, Fleur and Glen.

But how does the Met Office decide which names to include, and when did the practice begin?

We look at storm naming below, just as the weather starts to turn ahead of autumn.

The Met Office names its storms when they are set to have a medium or high impact on the UK. This is to help it communicate with the public in times of severe weather.

It announces a list of storm names at the start of the new season in September.

The UK saw three back-to-back storms at the start of the year (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)
The UK saw three back-to-back storms at the start of the year (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)
Storm Dudley swept through the UK in February (PA)
Storm Dudley swept through the UK in February (PA)

These are compiled jointly by the UK’s Met Office, Irish meteorologists at Met Éireann and the Dutch forecasters at KNMI.

The Met Office welcomes suggestions from the public who are invited to submit names for future storms. They can do this by an online form or email.

It says it usually receives thousands of suggestions throughout the year, which it uses to come up with the list of future storm names, along with suggestions from the Irish and Dutch weather service.

It makes sure to choose “some of the more popular names and names that reflect the diversity of the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands”.

The list starts with A and runs down the alphabet, alternating between traditional male and female names.

Heavy winds brought down trees and caused widespread damage during the 2022 storms (PA)
Heavy winds brought down trees and caused widespread damage during the 2022 storms (PA)

However, there are no storm names starting with Q, U, X, Y and Z. This is to maintain consistency with the US, who does not use these letters to name storms either.

The Met Office has been naming storms with public suggestions since 2015.

The online form to submit storm names for future lists can be found here. Alternatively, you can email nameourstorms@metoffice.gov.uk.

2022/23 storm names in full

Antoni

Betty

Cillian (kill-ee-an)

Daisy

Elliot

Fleur

Glen

Hendrika (hen-dree-ka)

Íde (ee-da)

Johanna (yo-hah-na)

Khalid

Loes (l-oo-s)

Mark

Nelly

Owain (oh-wine)

Priya

Ruadhán (ru-awe-on)

Sam

Tobias

Val

Wouter (vow-ter)