Third storm of the year to be named after Northern Ireland man whose job it is to respond to rising water levels

Along with Met Eireann in Ireland and KNMI, the Dutch weather service, meteorologists name storms when they are expected to have a “medium” or “high” impact on people in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands.

This helps communicate the seriousness of a storm to the public and helps people recognise what steps to take, the Met Office said.

The three organisations work together to compile the list of names before the following season, which runs from September to August.

Will Lang, head of situational awareness at the Met Office, said: “This is the ninth year of us naming storms and we do it because it works.

“Naming storms helps to ease communication of severe weather and provides clarity when people could be impacted by the weather.”

The public in all three countries submit suggestions for storm names, with the Met Office saying it wanted to include people working to protect the public.

Met Eireann wanted to include names of famous scientists, such as Jocelyn, named after astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell.

Ciaran Fearon, who works for the Department of Infrastructure in Northern Ireland sharing information on river levels and coastal flooding, was one of those named by the Met Office.

He said: “With the effects of climate change, we are more aware than ever of how weather can affect us all in every aspect of our daily lives.

“We need to respect each weather event and this work, particularly during periods of severe weather and storms, helps to ensure that we are all as well prepared as possible to help reduce the impact of such events.”

Storm name list in full:

Agnes

Babet

Ciarán

Debi

Elin

Fergus

Gerrit

Henk

Isha

Jocelyn

Kathleen

Lilian

Minnie

Nicholas

Olga

Piet

Regina

Stuart

Tamiko

Vincent

Walid