Calm before the Hugo? Presenter whips up a storm
The full list of names for the 2024/25 season are due to be announced at the start of September
- Published
Members of the public are being asked to help choose of one of the possible storm names for the 2024/25 season.
Met Éireann, the Irish meteorological service, has narrowed down the options to two names: Hugo and Harvey.
But a well-known BBC Radio Ulster presenter has said the answer is obvious.
Last year Met Éireann asked the public to choose the name for the letter ‘A’.
This resulted in Agnes, named after Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke.
The Met Office also is encouraging people to suggest names for future storms, external.
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Public awareness
The storm naming initiative which started in 2015 aims to increasing public awareness and engagement around severe weather events.
It is a collaboration between weather services in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Voting opened on Monday and will remain live until 22:00 on Monday 29th July.
Hugo Duncan has predicted that a Storm Hugo would be "nice and calm"
BBC Radio Ulster presenter Hugo Duncan has said there is only one name to vote for.
“It has to be Hugo - I can keep the wind calm, the rain sweet, and I can sing to you,” he told BBC News.
“It would be great to have a storm named after me because people say I start a storm everywhere."
Mr Duncan added: “Most of my life has been a storm, but we can all relax because Storm Hugo would be nice and calm.”
The storm-naming initiative has already generated significant interest online with users contesting why Hugo or Harvey should be chosen.
Why are storms given names?
Storms have only made it to the letter ‘H’ four times since 2015, starting with Storm Henry in February 2016, followed by Hector in June 2018, Hannah in April 2019, and Henk in January 2024.
Storm names have been used by meteorological organisations worldwide for decades, serving as an effective tool for conveying important weather information to the public.
The names are chosen in advance of the storm season, with each storm assigned a name in alphabetical order.
The full list of names for the 2024/25 season is due to be announced at the start of September.
The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used, which is consistent with international storm-naming conventions.
Storms named by other countries keep their name if they reach British, Irish or Dutch shores.