So how’s the weather where you are? We can tell you that here in Snowdonia, it’s been a pretty wet, windy and chilly old month with gale after storm after rain after rain after rain and a bit more rain. Rain, did you say? Yes, that’s right, lots and lots of rain!

And to top it all off in the last couple of weeks we’ve been hit with Storm Abigail and then shortly afterwards, Storm Barney. You may wonder why storms are given names… well we did too, so we decided to do a bit of digging!

The idea of naming storms comes from the American system of naming hurricanes, which has existed over there since the 1950s. It makes hurricanes easier to track and remember, and for the public to follow where they are and to listen out for relevant safety information. In America, all hurricane names (Andrew, Charley, Ike and Camille are all recently used names) are generated by the World Meteorological Association and the Met Office here in the UK thought this might be a good idea, especially considering that dangerous storms are becoming  more frequent occurrence in our weather systems than ever before.

So, earlier in the year, the Met Office passed it over to the general public, who all had the opportunity to name a storm by sending suggestions out on Facebook or Twitter. All the storms that are deemed to have the potential for medium or high wind impact the UK and Ireland will be given names to help the public remember them… And Storm Abigail was the first such storm which hit parts of the country last week. Storm Barney soon followed, and we’re told that Storm Clodagh, Storm Desmond, Storm Eva and Storm Frank are all just waiting to be used. The Met Office’s system copies the American tradition of following the alphabet (beginning at “A”) and always alternating between female and male.

Abigail cooking up a storm….. by Wikimedia Commons –

However, if the storm is a remnant of an American hurricane that has moved across the Atlantic then it won’t be renamed, and names that have been used for serious storms that resulted in loss of life in other parts of the world also won’t be re-used.

So, will your name pop up on the storm list – destined to cause chaos, havoc and mayhem? If you’re called Nigel, Tegen, Vernon or Wendy then you might just be……. Watch this space, and watch this storm!

For more information and advice about how to stay safe in severe gales and storms, read here

Image by Roger Kirby on freeimages.com