The Flood Hub

The Met Office Storm Names for 2025/26 have been announced! 

The storm names for the 2025/26 storm names have been announced by the Met Office. Storms are named in partnership with Met Éireann (the meteorological service in Ireland) and KNMI (the Dutch national weather service). Storms Amy, Bram and Chandra  will be the first named storms of 2025-26. 

From Cornwall to County Down, to the Netherlands and Ireland, more than 50,000 suggestions were submitted. The final selection includes some of the most popular choices as well as names with a personal story behind them, tributes to loved ones, pets or everyday heroes.

• The first name on the list – Amy – was the most popular female name submitted to the Met Office. It resonated with many who associated it with loved ones, one submission read: “[My family] love being outside, whether in the garden or walking/ cycling/scooting to school or the park. So the first thing we do each morning with breakfast is to check what the weather forecast is for the day.”
• Other names submitted to the Met Office include Dave, described as “my beloved husband who can snore three times louder than any storm!”; Isla, the most popular ‘I’ name, with many submissions about little girls who leave chaos in their wake. And Violet, a daughter “every bit as fierce and unstoppable as a storm” after being born at 27 weeks while her mum was unwell.
• Stevie was inspired by a little girl named after the Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) song Dreams, which includes the line: “Thunder only happens when it’s raining.” And Ruby, in honour of a cherished grandmother, and also the most popular name beginning with R.
• Pets featured prominently too. One cat, Oscar, was described as “a good boy, but crazy when he gets the zoomies,” while another was remembered fondly for “loving the wind in his fur – he’d sit in the garden for ages just enjoying it.”

The tradition of naming storms began in 1953 in the United States when the National Hurricane Centre (now the World Meteorological Organisation) began assigning female names to storms and hurricanes, with male names introduced from 1978 onwards. However, it wasn’t until 2014 that the Met Office in the UK decided to start giving storms male and female names in a similar tradition. 

The Met Office, Met Éireann, and the KNMI select each years’ list of names from suggestions submitted by the public. The names are selected based on popularity and how well they represent the different cultures, nations and diversity across Britain and Ireland. Storm names are assigned in alphabetical order, however, to remain in line with the US National Hurricane naming conventions, storms are never assigned names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z. If a storm is named by a different storm naming group and impacts the UK, the given name will be used in communications. In addition, if the remnants of a hurricane has moved across the Atlantic to impact UK weather, this would be referred to as an ex-hurricane with its previously given name. 

Why storms get named 

Whilst some of the names may feel personalised and friendly, the purpose of naming storms is to ensure that information and preparation techniques can be shared across the media and between communities much more easily ahead of severe weather. This was proved efficient in August 2025 when a staggering 93% of people in the amber warning area were aware of the alerts, with 83% taking action to prepare and protect themselves and property. Naming storms is a simple way to enable communities are prepared when extreme weather is forecast.

Storms will get named by the group when they’re deemed to have the potential to cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands. Wind is the primary consideration for naming a storm, but additional impacts from rain or snow will also be considered in the naming process.

The Met Office and partners started naming storms in 2015. The list runs from early September to late August the following year to coincide with the start of autumn and the end of summer, when the likelihood of low-pressure systems and the potential for named storms increase.

A look back at the 2024/25 Storm Season 

The group named six storms in the 2024/25 season, reaching the letter ‘F’ with Storm Floris on 1 August 2025. Storm seasons are highly variable in the UK, with some seasons seeing a low frequency of named storms, and others more. Some seasons, like 2023-24 with its record 12 named storms, are exceptionally active, while others, like 2024-25 were much quieter.

2025/26 Storm Names 

Below are the storm names for 2025/26: 

 

Storm Name	Date named	Date of impact on UK and/or Ireland and/or Netherlands
Amy (Met Office)
Bram (Met Éireann)
Chandra (Ch-an-dra) (KNMI)
Dave (Met Office)
Eddie (KNMI)
Fionnuala (Fee-new-lah) (Met Éireann)
Gerard (Jer-ard) (Met Éireann)
Hannah (KNMI)
Isla (Met Office)
Janna (Yah-nah) (KNMI)
Kasia (Ka-shaa) (Met Éireann)
Lilith (KNMI)
Marty (Met Éireann)
Nico (KNMI)
Oscar (Met Office)
Patrick (Met Éireann)
Ruby (Met Office)
Stevie (Met Office)
Tadhg (Tie-g) (Met Éireann)
Violet (Met Office)
Wubbo (Vuh-boh) (KNMI)

 

We have written a blog all about the 2025/26 storm names, including information about why they are named. It highlights some of the significant storms that have affected the UK in the 2025/26 storm season. Please click here to read it. 

Click here to read the Met Office news article for more information about the 2025/26 storm names.