Olga and Elin - Met Éireann release new storm names

Met Éireann, along with the national weather services of the UK (Met Office) and the Netherlands (KNMI), has released the list of new storm names for the 2023/2024 storm season, which starts on today, Friday September 1.

Storms are named when they could cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts in one of the three partner countries. This enables consistent, authoritative messaging to support the public to prepare for, and stay safe during potentially severe weather events.

Each of the three meteorological services contributed seven names to this season’s list.

Met Éireann chose names of eminent Irish/Northern-Irish scientists, to honour their important contributions to science and benefits for humankind.

The full 2023/24 list is:

When a storm is forecast the national weather service that expects the biggest impact from the severe weather to hit its region names the storm. Storm naming happens in conjunction with orange/red weather warnings, which could be for wind, rain or snow or a combination of these conditions. Those warnings are issued based on a combination of numerical criteria and the potential impacts foreseen.

"Storm naming is an important asset in our warnings arsenal and makes severe weather communications clearer and more effective. It connects our weather services more closely to the public, helping us in our mission to protect lives and property and ensuring the safety of our communities," says Eoin Sherlock, Head of Forecasting Division in Met Éireann.

"We are delighted to celebrate science and scientists in this year’s names," he continued.

"As part of our process we asked the public to choose the name for letter “A”, resulting in Agnes, after Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke. Our warmest thanks to all who voted and to those who suggested other names that we will keep in mind for future seasons.

As we move in to storm season, we advise people to prepare now for possible severe weather events. We echo public safety advice to “Be Winter Ready”. You can find the latest forecasts and warnings in met.ie and Met Éireann’s app.”

The letter “J” this year is named by Met Éireann after Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the brilliant astrophysicist who discovered the first pulsating radio stars (or pulsars) in 1967. She has led a distinguished career in research and teaching, with an emphasis on empowering women in physics.

Reacting to the announcement of the new storm names list, Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell said:

“I am delighted to feature in this distinguished list celebrating science and hope that if a potential “Storm Jocelyn” happens, it may be a useful stirring-up rather than a destructive event! Science advancements increase our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, and I think this is wonderful example of science-based services communications.”

Since 2015, Met Éireann and the UK Met Office have been working together on the naming programme and were joined by the Netherlands’ KMNI in 2019.

UK Met Office Head of Situational Awareness Will Lang said:

“This is the ninth year of us naming storms and we do it because it works. Naming storms helps to ease communication of severe weather and provides clarity when people could be impacted by the weather. 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 UK partner organisations. Working across different agencies allows us to help as many people as possible be prepared for severe weather.”

KNMI Senior Forecaster and Team Manager Jos Diepeveen mentioned:

“Naming the storms helps to raise awareness when severe and extreme weather is approaching. Through recognizable names, we hope to reach as many people as possible with our warning before the weather strikes. For this year’s KNMI input, we have asked visitors during our open day last October for suggestions. Visitor Babet filled in her own name: ‘Because I was born during a storm’."

Other National Meteorological Service groups in the US and Europe also name storms. When any National Met Service names a weather system, all others keep that name. This includes ex-hurricanes named by the US National Hurricane Center such as Charley (25th August 1986) and Ophelia (16th October 2017), which had major impacts in Ireland when they crossed the Atlantic.