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AS YOU MAY have heard, we’re likely in for some stormy weather on Monday as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia pay a glancing visit to Ireland.
Met Éireann issued a preliminary warning yesterday – and while the track of the storm is far from certain, strong winds, heavy rain and high seas are threatened.
For the last few winters, forecasters in Ireland and Britain have been using a new storm-naming system to alert people to extreme weather events.
In light of that fact, more than a few people have taken to Twitter in recent days to ask whether the ex-hurricane would be christened with a new name over on this side of the Atlantic.
The question cropped up in TheJournal.ie‘s offices too.
Met Éireann’s head of forecasting Gerald Fleming helpfully provided this answer:
Under the protocols agreed with the UK Met Office, an ex-tropical cyclone which has been named by the National Hurricane Centre in Miami (which is the specialised centre designated by the WMO [World Meteorological Organisation] for Atlantic hurricane forecasts) will retain its name if it transitions into a severe mid-latitude storm that affects Ireland or Britain.
So – Ophelia will remain Ophelia…
In case you were wondering, the storm, had it developed in the Atlantic and not already been named by the Americans, would have been called Brian.
Brian may well still be unleashed on the country – but we’ll have to wait a little longer.
(For an actual weather forecast click here).
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