Storm Antoni: Why naming storms is a risky business
Since 2015, the UK's Met Office has used forenames to label storms, as a strategy for improving people's awareness of severe weather warnings. The list of names for the 2023 storm season was compiled in conjunction with the ...
The list includes forenames suggested by the British public—Daisy, Glen, Khalid, Owain—as well as the winner of a public vote on Twitter, Betty. KNMI has honored famous Dutch scientists with its selections: Antoni, Hendrika, Johanna, Loes, Tobias and Wouter. And Met Éireann has plumped for Cillian, Fleur, Íde, Ruadhán and Nelly.
Getting the public involved in naming storms injects an element of fun into the otherwise serious business of heightening awareness of perilous weather. When we use people's names for non-human things, we anthropomorphize (or humanize) them, and so they gain more of our interest and attention. But naming storms also has its pitfalls.
How storm names reflect cultural tendencies
With the exception of Cillian, which was the ninth most popular given to baby boys in Ireland in 2021, the 2022-23 storm names tend not to mirror today's popular baby names. In terms of popularity, Wouter and Hendrika are the next most highly ranked baby names on the list (being respectively, the 37th most popular name given to baby boys and the 42nd for baby girls in the Netherlands).
Storm Bella hit the Netherlands on December 27, 2021 with winds reaching 110 km per hour that caused extensive damage. Credit: Zivko Trikic | Shutterstock