THE Met Office has announced its list of names to be used for any storms for the rest of 2022 and 2023.

In partnership with Met Éireann and KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute), the Met Office has announced the 21 names they will use for storms for the next year.

This is the eighth year the organisation has named storms in line with guidance from the US National Hurricane Centre.

The only letters of the alphabet not used in the naming project are Q, U, X, Y, and Z.

The first name which will be used for a storm which would "cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands" is Antoni.

Twenty other names will then follow for subsequent storms.

The names selected for 2022/23 are:

  • Antoni
  • Betty
  • Cillian (kill-ee-an)
  • Daisy
  • Elliot
  • Fleur
  • Glen
  • Hendrika (hen-dree-ka)
  • Íde (ee-da)
  • Johanna (yo-hah-na)
  • Khalid
  • Loes (l-oo-s)
  • Mark
  • Nelly
  • Owain (oh-wine)
  • Priya
  • Ruadhán (ru-awe-on)
  • Sam
  • Tobias
  • Val
  • Wouter (vow-ter)

The names suggested by the Met Office are made up of public submissions, with Betty receiving 12,000 votes through the body's Twitter account.

KNMI’s selected names, including Antoni, Hendrika, Johanna and Loes, are named after influential Dutch scientists.

Will Lang, head of situational awareness at the Met Office – who leads responses in times of severe weather – said: “We know from seven years of doing this that naming storms works.

"Last year, Storms Arwen and Eunice brought some severe impacts to the UK and we know that naming storms helps to raise awareness and give the public the information they need to stay safe in times of severe weather.

"Recent impactful storms demonstrated our ongoing need to communicate severe weather in a clear way to help the public protect themselves.

"Naming storms is just one way that we know helps to raise awareness of severe weather and provides clarity for the public when they need it most.”