The Met Office is inviting the public to put on their thinking caps and come up with suggestions for storm names for the upcoming season.

For the last 11 years the Met Office has worked with Met Éireann in Ireland and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), to compile the list.

Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “We all remember the impactful storm names of recent years. Whether it’s Eunice, Franklin, Bert or another impactful event, the storm naming system has helped us communicate weather to help people stay safe.

“Now we need the UK public to help us compile this year’s list. Whether you want to honour a weather-lover in your family, remember a family pet or get a friend’s name in the headlines, we welcome submissions from the public to help us pull together next year’s list of storm names.

“We name storms because it works. For Storm Éowyn in January, the UK’s most powerful windstorm for over a decade, post-event surveys suggest that 99% of people within the red warning area were aware of the warnings, and 89% of them took action.

“I’d therefore encourage the public, schools, workplaces and just about everyone, to get involved in something that may seem light-hearted, but has a very serious message.”

People can submit their names online, with an option to add the reason for their suggestion.

Once all submissions are in, the Met Office will work with Met Éireann and KNMI to determine the definitive list of storm names for the 2025/26 storm season, which will begin in September 2025.

As part of the naming process, each of the three meteorological organisations get to name selected letters in the alphabet, reflecting the diversity of the three countries naming the storms. Names are selected for each letter of the alphabet, except for Q, U, X, Y and Z, in keeping with storm naming conventions.

A number of factors are considered for a name to be on the list, including how difficult it might be to pronounce, if it has different meanings across the different countries, and if it could be considered to be controversial in some way.

Once the list is decided, it will be formally announced in September, with the first storm to be the first name at the start of the alphabet.

When the criteria for naming a storm are met, either the Met Office, Met Éireann or KNMI can name a storm, providing it hasn’t already been named by another European meteorological group.

Naming storms helps to raise awareness of their impacts and make it easier to follow their progress in the media, on social media and online.

So far in the 2024/25 season, five storms have been named, with Storm Éowyn the last storm named on 21 January 2025.

Submissions should be in received by 3 July 2025, and the new list will be revealed in early September. Only names submitted via the official submission page will be valid: www.metoffice.gov.uk/forms/name-our-storms-call-for-names.