2025/26 Storm Names Revealed

Met Éireann has unveiled the list of names for the 2025/26 storm season, which begins today and runs until 31 August 2026.

The list was developed in partnership with the UK Met Office and the Netherlands’ KNMI, with each partner contributing seven names.

This year, Met Éireann asked the Irish public to submit suggestions through a social media campaign. More than 10,000 names were received from 4,137 members of the public.

The full 2025/26 list includes Amy, Bram, Chandra, Dave, Eddie, Fionnuala, Gerard, Hannah, Isla, Janna, Kasia, Lilith, Marty, Nico, Oscar, Patrick, Ruby, Stevie, Tadhg, Violet, and Wubbo. Letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are excluded, following the naming convention of the US National Hurricane Center.

Eoin Sherlock, Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann, said the initiative celebrates ten years of storm naming while giving the public a stronger voice.

Many submissions had personal significance, honouring friends, family, pets, and aspects of Irish history, culture, and literature. Names such as Bram paid tribute to Bram Stoker, while Gerard recognised a local man battling illness.

“Naming storms helps people track important forecasts and safety information,” Sherlock said. He cited Storm Éowyn in January as an example, when met.ie received more than three million visits over two days.

A storm is named when it is forecast to have medium or high impact in one of the partner countries. The service expecting the most significant effects or likely to be hit first assigns the name. Warnings for wind, rain, or snow may accompany the naming based on forecast data and potential impacts. Up-to-date forecasts and warnings are available via the Met Éireann website and app.

Since 2015, Met Éireann and the UK Met Office have coordinated storm naming, joined by KNMI in 2019. Rebekah Hicks, Chief Meteorologist at the UK Met Office, said naming storms helps the public and media recognise and respond to severe weather. Surveys following Storm Floris showed 93 percent of people in amber warning areas were aware of the alert, with 83 percent taking action to prepare.

The back story to the 2025/26 Storm names

The public call for storm name suggestions in Ireland ran from 23 June to 1 July 2025 and was promoted through Met Éireann’s social media channels. People could submit up to three names along with a story behind each nomination using an online form. The response was overwhelming, with 10,696 submissions from 4,137 members of the public.

Many of the names selected this year were also suggested by the Irish public. Amy, Dave, Eddie, Hannah, Oscar, Ruby, and Stevie were among those nominated in Ireland.

(Nominating organisation: KNMI in blue, Met Office UK in white, Met Éireann in green)

Looking back at past seasons, the 2024/25 storm season featured six named storms affecting Ireland. The season began with Ashley in October 2024, followed by Bert, Conall, Darragh, Éowyn, and concluded with Floris in August 2025. All were named by the Western Europe Group of National Meteorological Services, comprising Met Éireann, the UK Met Office, and KNMI.

The record for the most named storms affecting Ireland in a season is fourteen, set in 2023/24. Two of those storms, Elisa and Geraldine, were named by the Southwestern Europe Group covering France, Portugal, and Spain. The fewest named storms since the initiative began in 2015 was four, in 2022/23. On average, Ireland has experienced around eight named storms each season since the programme began.

The 2015/16 season remains notable for the highest number of storms reaching storm force 10, with nine of the eleven named storms reaching sustained wind speeds at coastal stations. Last season, four of the six named storms recorded storm force 10 or higher sustained winds on land in Ireland. Ashley on 20 October 2024 brought gusts up to 137 km/h. Bert on 23 November reached 115 km/h. Darragh on 6 December recorded 141 km/h, classified as violent storm force. Éowyn on 24 January 2025 produced gusts of 184 km/h at Mace Head, Co Galway, provisionally the strongest ever recorded in Ireland, surpassing the previous record of 182 km/h at Foynes, Co Limerick, in 1945. Prior to Éowyn, the last hurricane force winds observed on land were during Storm Darwin on 12 February 2014, with gusts up to 159 km/h.

For more information on storm names and past extreme weather records, visit Met Éireann’s Storm Centre and Major Weather Events pages.