Full list of UK storm names as Met Office labels Storm Eowyn the first cyclone of 2025

The first named storm to hit the UK this year is set to bring rain and heavy winds this weekend.

The Met Office has officially named Storm Eowyn as it sweeps across the Atlantic, with the weather system set to make landfall in the UK later this week.

Although Eowyn is the first named storm of 2025, it is the fifth named storm of the 2024-25 storm season.

Storm Darragh, which hit the UK in early December, was the fourth to hit Britain this season. Before that, Storms Ashley, Bert and then Conall brought devastating flooding and even snow.

Two people were confirmed to have died when trees fell onto their cars in Lancashire and the West Midlands, whilst thousands were left without power in Darragh’s aftermath.

The Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool was also called off, whilst travel was disrupted in the run-up to Christmas.

Met Office’s list of storm names

The list – first launched in 2015 – generally runs from early September until late August the following year, coinciding with the beginning of autumn

Other names that made this year’s list include James, Lewis, Mavis – allinspired by the Met Office’s 170-year history.

The forecaster said James is named after Group Captain James Stagg, who was the chief meteorologist responsible for advising General Dwight Eisenhower on the weather forecast for the D-Day landings.

Lewis comes from Lewis Fry Richardson, who devised a theory to use maths and physics to make weather forecasts using computers.

Mavis is named after Mavis Hinds, who worked on the earliest Met Office computers.

In the outgoing year, there were twelve named storms in alphabetical order.

It was the first time there were enough to get as far as the letter L, with Storm Lilian, so unless we have a particularly stormy year it’s unlikely we’ll get to see Storm Wren.

How do storms get their names?

The UK Met Office works with the Irish Met Eireann in Ireland and Dutch weather service KNMI to pick the names.

Bert was put forward by KNMI after they asked the public to come up with names at an event.

When the list was launched in August, Will Lang, who leads severe weather responses for the Met Office, said: ‘This year, as we celebrate our 170th birthday, it’s great to be able to honour those who have had an impact on our long history of pioneering weather and climate science services.’

Long before storms had official names, they were often identified formally by the places they hit, or by saints.

In the Atlantic, names rotate alphabetically, alternating between male and female. However, names beginning with Q, U, X, Y, and Z are skipped due to a lack of suitable names.

Some storm names become infamous for their death toll and huge impacts – such as Hurricane Katrina and Sandy in the US and Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines.

While it’s unlikely we’ll ever see storms causing that level of devastation in the UK, storm names linked to horrific events like the above are retired, to avoid confusion or emotional stress in future.

A version of this article was originally published on December 6, 2024

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