British People Pay Attention When a Storm Has a Name, Met Office Says
The UK weather service says giving a storm a name increases awareness of its associated dangers, which are growing due to climate change.
Flooded cars are abandoned during Storm Babet in Derby, United Kingdom on on Oct. 21. 2023
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe names Isha, Babet, and Henk will all be familiar to Britons, but not because they belong to people — they are some of the most destructive storms that have swept through the UK in the past year.
In an almost decade-long initiative, the UK Met Office has been naming storms that pose a significant risk to the British public. The program, which is conducted jointly with weather agencies in Ireland and the Netherlands, has made communicating the dangers of these weather events easier, inspiring people to prepare and protect themselves from high winds and flood waters, according to the Met Office’s Stephen Dixon. 2022’s Eunice and 2021’s Arwen also succeeded in capturing the national attention, appearing on newspaper front pages and at the top of news bulletins.