The Met Office has unveiled the new list of storm names that will be used across the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands during the 2026-27 storm season.
The announcement comes as September 1 marks the beginning of meteorological autumn and the start of the UK’s new storm season.
The first named storm will be Storm Austen, followed by Boelo, Chloe, Dano and Evelyn if weather systems severe enough to warrant naming develop during the season.
The complete list is: Austen, Boelo, Chloe, Dano, Evelyn, Finn, Gwendolyn, Heather, Ivy, Jade, Kilian, Laoise, Miriam, Nicola, Olaf, Phelim, Ruban, Shaun, Theo, Vesna and Wende.
Storms are jointly named by the UK’s Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Netherlands’ KNMI when forecasts suggest they could have a medium or high impact.
In Britain, this generally means weather capable of causing enough disruption or damage for an amber or red weather warning to be considered.
Strong winds are often the main reason for naming a storm, although the potential effects of heavy rain and snow, including flooding and travel disruption, can also influence the decision.
Public helps choose new storm names
The 2026-27 season marks the 11th year of storm naming in the UK, a system designed to make severe-weather warnings clearer and easier for the public to follow.
The three national weather agencies invited the public to suggest names in 2025 and received more than 40,000 nominations.
Several names on the new list have unusual stories behind them.
Austen was suggested in honour of Austen Nagle, the first director of the Irish Meteorological Service.
Chloe was nominated more than 130 times. One nomination came from the mother of a five-year-old girl fascinated by weather who, according to her mother, can also “create a storm by herself” when tired.
Meanwhile, Ivy was submitted in honour of a nine-month-old Labrador puppy whose owner affectionately described her as “the absolute destructor”.
Not every major storm affecting Britain will necessarily receive a name from the UK-led system.
Tropical storms and hurricanes that cross the Atlantic retain the names originally assigned to them. Ex-Hurricane Erin, for example, kept its original name when its effects reached parts of South West England in August 2025.
The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are also excluded from the list to maintain consistency with naming conventions used by the US National Hurricane Center.
Although Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands share the same list, a storm can be named because of its expected impact in any of the three countries. This means a storm named by Met Éireann or KNMI may ultimately have little or no significant impact on the UK.
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