The UK is bracing itself for the first storm of the year, Henk, but why is it called that? And how do weather experts pick the names? Here's everything you need to know.
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Loading audio...The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for Storm Henk this week as high winds and heavy rain are expected to cause disruption across the UK.
Travel, roof damage and potential power cut warnings have been put in place as winds of up to 80mph are expected in some parts of the country.
Parts of the country expected to witness Storm Henk the worst are Southern England, the Midlands, East Anglia and Wales with warnings in place until 20:00pm GMT.
And as parts of the country begin to experience the first storm of 2024, many are looking at just how the Met Office name storms and why they do so.
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Here's everything you need to know about storms in the UK including why storms have names and how they're chosen.
Why is it called Storm Henk? What's the meaning?
A slightly unusual name for a storm has caused a lot of people to take an interest in to why experts have chosen this title.
So where did Henk come from? Henk's origin isn't known exactly but names are all chosen from a list either picked by the public or by the Met Office themselves.
Why do storms have names?
The practice of naming storms goes way back to the 1950s and was established in the US.
Why? Naming storms meant the public could engage with the more severe weather forecasts, making them more manageable and relatable for all.
The Met Office also agreed that giving storms human names made it easier to track its progress across multiple media platforms.
For experts, it also made it straightforward for them to compare storms over time.
How are storms in the UK named?
In 2015, following in the footsteps of the US again, the UK Met Office launched a "Name our Storm" campaign.
As a result, each year they draw a shortlist of names suggested by the public and use those to label the storms. In 2019, the Netherlands also began adding a few name suggestions to the UK's list.
It also used to be tradition to switch between male and female names.
For the 2023/24 seasons, the Met Office has changed the format on naming storms slightly as they have been picking names of prominent scientists and meteorologists instead.
What were the storm names for 2023?
Of course, the British weather hasn't left us short of storms this year. Names we've had so far are:
- Agnes
- Babet
- Ciaran
- Debi
- Elin
- Fergus
- Gerrit
- Henk
- Isha
- Jocelyn
- Kathleen
- Lilian
- Minnie
- Nicholas
- Olga
- Piet
- Regina
- Stuart
- Tamiko
- Vincent
- Walid
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