Updated at 3.15pm

MEMBERS OF THE public are going to get the chance to name storms, as part of a new initiative from Met Éireann.

The project will be carried out in conjunction with the UK’s Met Office and it is hoped that by naming storms greater public awareness of severe weather will be created.

Over the past number of years names have been given to North Atlantic storms on an ac hoc basis by members of the public, the media and commercial weather websites – for example this year’s Storm Rachel.

Gerald Fleming TheJournal.ie TheJournal.ie

Speaking about the new scheme, Gerald Fleming, head of forecasting with Met Éireann, said:

It may be a cliche to say that the weather knows no boundaries, but increasingly the same can be said for news.

“When severe weather threatens, national met services have the significant challenge – above and beyond the technical forecasting challenge – of bringing coherent and consistent messages to the public, to enable effective action in response.

Putting names on severe storms helps the public to immediately relate to threatening weather systems.

The UK and Ireland share a common interest in North Atlantic storms, making it more convenient to operate a common naming policy.

Storms will be eligible to be named if they are deemed to have the potential to cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ wind impacts in the UK or Ireland. This results in a yellow, amber or red warning being issued by Met Éireann.

Members of the public will be able to submit their suggestions through Twitter, Facebook and via email.

Here’s what Fleming told us about the planned storm-naming project, when he dropped by TheJournal.ie last December:

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