Next season’s storm names include weather experts and famous comic book character
Next season’s storm names have been revealed – with civil servants, scientists and even a famous comic book character providing inspiration.
Names on the list include Debi, Ciaran and Regina – after people working to protect the public from severe weather around the UK.
Also on the list is the name Minnie, inspired by Minnie the Minx from the Beano comic, after the inclusion of Storm Dennis in 2020.
Names of famous scientists have also been put forward, including Jocelyn, after astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell.
The list will be used to name storms during the 2023/24 storm season, which runs from September this year to August next year.
The list has been compiled jointly by the UK’s Met Office, as well as Met Eireann in Ireland and the Dutch weather service, KNMI.
UK weather: The latest Sky News forecast
The Met Office put forward the names of people working to protect the public from severe weather around the UK.
Ciaran, after Ciaran Fearon, who works for the Department of Infrastructure in Northern Ireland sharing information on river levels and coastal flooding, was one of those named by the Met Office.
Debi Garft, who recently retired as a senior policy officer in the Scottish government flooding team, was chosen after helping to form the Scottish Flood Forum and the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service.
The name Minnie, after The Beano character, Minnie the Minx, is on the list. File pic
Regina, named after Regina Simmons, who works for the Natural Resources Wales Warning and Informing team, was also added to the list.
Another person to have inspired an entry on the new list was Stuart Sampson, who has worked for nearly 20 years managing water supplies in times of drought for the Environment Agency.
Mr Sampson said: “Our weather is a great conversation starter. Giving a storm a name means we can all talk about an event with a clear and common understanding.
“Everyone knows what you mean by Hurricane Katrina, for example – you know the magnitude and impacts that had on America.
“But if you said the low-pressure cyclone it would not resonate as much.
“By naming storms, this will help everyone be better prepared and in the conversation.”
Alongside the Met Office’s suggestions, Met Eireann put forward the names of famous scientists, while KNMI’s suggestions were submitted by the Dutch public during visits to the forecaster throughout the year.
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Meteorologists from the three organisations name storms when they are expected to have a “medium” or “high” impact on people in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands.
When the criteria for naming a storm are met, either the Met Office, Met Eireann or KNMI can name a storm.
It is a practice that began in 2015 in the UK and, according to the Met Office, helps to communicate the seriousness of a storm to the public and helps people recognise what steps to take.
More than 20 names were chosen for the last storm season, which had four storms – Otto, Noa, Antoni and Betty.
Otto was named by meteorologists in Denmark, while Noa was named by the French national meteorological service, Meteo France.
If other mereological agencies name storms first, then the names are adopted by the Met Office, Met Eireann and KNMI.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.
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