Storm names for 2024/25 revealed by Met Office

The Met Office has released the official list 2024/25 storm names, with Ashley, Bert and Conall set to hit first.

With each storm being named in alphabetical order, these are three that the UK is likely to see next year. Less likely is Tilly, Vivienne and Wren, coming at the end of the list.

For a storm to be named by the UK Met Office, it must be forecase to cause “medium” or “high” impact, based on factors like wind, snow and rain. The naming is done in partnership with the Republic of Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Netherlands’ KNMI.

Met Office Head of Situational Awareness, Will Lang said: “This is the 10th year of us naming storms and we do it because it works. Naming storms helps to make communication of severe weather easier and provides clarity.”

Here is the full list of storm names for 2024/25:

The names are selected from a shortlist of submissions made by the public, alongside the names of significant people from the Met Office’s 170-year history.

The names James, Lewis and Mavis have been included as historical entries this year, with the first based on Group Captain James Stagg, who persauded officials to move D-Day operations back 24-hours based on his weather forecast.

There are also some Irish and Dutch names included in the 21-name list to reflect submissions made by Met Éireann and KNMI.

In line with US naming conventions, there are no names given for Q, U, X, Y or Z. This is largely because it is difficult to find names for these letters.

The UK has also never reached as far in the alphabet as any of these, with the most named storms recorded in a single year standing at 12, coming in the last 12 months.

Most recently Storm Lilian hit our shores, bringing a low-level of disruption. The most destructive storm of the year was Babet, which tragically saw seven people in the UK lose their lives.

Mr Lang said: “Storm seasons are highly variable in the UK, with some seasons seeing a low frequency of named storms, and others more.

“One reason there were so many storms last year was the position of the jet stream through much of autumn and winter, which brought a succession of low-pressure systems towards the UK which became named storms.”