What's in a name? Met Office releases windstorm name list for upcoming season
By
Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Sep 1, 2020 11:01 AM EDT
Businesses flooded as Storm Ellen battered Skibbereen, Ireland, on Aug. 19. The storm’s powerful winds brought down numerous trees and caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of customers.
As summer comes to a close, preparations for the upcoming autumn season are ramping up. In Europe, this includes the release of the 2020-2021 windstorm name list.
The Northwest Europe Group list was released by the UK Met office on Tuesday morning, local time, detailing the names that would be given to windstorms during the 2020-2021 season.
The windstorm season does not have a specific start and end date like tropical seasons often do, but are most common from the month of September through early April.
As always, and just like the naming convention for tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean, the list is alphabetical and begins with the letter A. A total of 21 names make up the list.
Different countries of Europe, who are often impacted by the same windstorms, have banded together to use a similar name list to help avoid public confusion. For the Northwest Europe Group, this includes Ireland, the United Kingdom, and last year's addition of the Netherlands. The Southwest Europe group, which includes France, Spain and Portugal, uses a separate naming list, and is due to release their list for this season later in September.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys explained that the criteria for which storms become named differs from country to country within each Europe group. Some are more warning based, while others are more based on impacts.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
A windstorm already caught Western Europe by surprise, when Storm Ellen pushed through the British Isles in August. Without the new season's name list, officials at Met Éireann in Ireland chose to select the name Ellen for the early storm, which alphabetically was the next name from the 2019-2020 season list.
The above satellite image taken in the evening on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, shows Storm Ellen spinning toward the British Isles (Photo/NASA).
Rarely issued "red status" wind warnings were issued for parts of Ireland, while yellow and orange wind warnings extended across Wales and England. Portions of both Ireland and the United Kingdom experienced destructive flooding from Ellen.
In the 2020 Europe Autumn Forecast, Roys explains that more windstorms are likely to pile up at the beginning of the season.
"Although we are forecasting a season slightly below normal in terms of windstorms, it could be active early on, heavily influenced by the active tropical season in the Atlantic Ocean," said Roys.
Roys warns that an active season may include both named and unnamed storms that impact the region.
It is also common for stronger tropical systems to curve northward out of the tropics and into the North Atlantic, and hold together long enough to impact parts of western Europe. When this happens, the storm retains the Atlantic Ocean basin name, rather then gaining a new one. These lingering tropical systems can often bring some of the most widespread damage, just like Ophelia did in the British Isles in 2017.
“Windstorms will not only have the ability to be big wind producers that lead to tree damage and power outages, but will also have the ability to produce flooding,” Roys said, referencing the flooding from earlier this year in the United Kingdom.
Three different named windstorms during last season were prime examples of this, and flooding ended up to be the more devastating and long-lasting impact.
Forecasting and tracking windstorms in Western Europe is nothing new, but the practice of naming them only came about in recent years.
The naming began in 2015, when Met Éireann and the UK Met Office joined forces to start naming any powerful storms that would impact the British Isles, to increase public awareness of an upcoming weather threat. This idea has evolved over the years, to other countries also naming windstorms and pre-determined naming lists being issued at the beginning of each season.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Severe Weather
What's in a name? Met Office releases windstorm name list for upcoming season
By Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Sep 1, 2020 11:01 AM EDT
Businesses flooded as Storm Ellen battered Skibbereen, Ireland, on Aug. 19. The storm’s powerful winds brought down numerous trees and caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of customers.
As summer comes to a close, preparations for the upcoming autumn season are ramping up. In Europe, this includes the release of the 2020-2021 windstorm name list.
The Northwest Europe Group list was released by the UK Met office on Tuesday morning, local time, detailing the names that would be given to windstorms during the 2020-2021 season.
The windstorm season does not have a specific start and end date like tropical seasons often do, but are most common from the month of September through early April.
As always, and just like the naming convention for tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean, the list is alphabetical and begins with the letter A. A total of 21 names make up the list.
Different countries of Europe, who are often impacted by the same windstorms, have banded together to use a similar name list to help avoid public confusion. For the Northwest Europe Group, this includes Ireland, the United Kingdom, and last year's addition of the Netherlands. The Southwest Europe group, which includes France, Spain and Portugal, uses a separate naming list, and is due to release their list for this season later in September.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys explained that the criteria for which storms become named differs from country to country within each Europe group. Some are more warning based, while others are more based on impacts.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
A windstorm already caught Western Europe by surprise, when Storm Ellen pushed through the British Isles in August. Without the new season's name list, officials at Met Éireann in Ireland chose to select the name Ellen for the early storm, which alphabetically was the next name from the 2019-2020 season list.
The above satellite image taken in the evening on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, shows Storm Ellen spinning toward the British Isles (Photo/NASA).
Rarely issued "red status" wind warnings were issued for parts of Ireland, while yellow and orange wind warnings extended across Wales and England. Portions of both Ireland and the United Kingdom experienced destructive flooding from Ellen.
In the 2020 Europe Autumn Forecast, Roys explains that more windstorms are likely to pile up at the beginning of the season.
"Although we are forecasting a season slightly below normal in terms of windstorms, it could be active early on, heavily influenced by the active tropical season in the Atlantic Ocean," said Roys.
Roys warns that an active season may include both named and unnamed storms that impact the region.
It is also common for stronger tropical systems to curve northward out of the tropics and into the North Atlantic, and hold together long enough to impact parts of western Europe. When this happens, the storm retains the Atlantic Ocean basin name, rather then gaining a new one. These lingering tropical systems can often bring some of the most widespread damage, just like Ophelia did in the British Isles in 2017.
“Windstorms will not only have the ability to be big wind producers that lead to tree damage and power outages, but will also have the ability to produce flooding,” Roys said, referencing the flooding from earlier this year in the United Kingdom.
Three different named windstorms during last season were prime examples of this, and flooding ended up to be the more devastating and long-lasting impact.
Related:
Forecasting and tracking windstorms in Western Europe is nothing new, but the practice of naming them only came about in recent years.
The naming began in 2015, when Met Éireann and the UK Met Office joined forces to start naming any powerful storms that would impact the British Isles, to increase public awareness of an upcoming weather threat. This idea has evolved over the years, to other countries also naming windstorms and pre-determined naming lists being issued at the beginning of each season.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo