After Ciarán what next? Storm names revealed for 2023

This weeks storm was named after Ciarán Fearon, a civil servant who works for the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

Nearly 150,000 homes were left without power after Storm Ciarán caused severe weather with widespread flooding and damage across the UK and Europe.

The UK is reeling under the after-effects of the devastating Storm Ciarán that recorded gust winds of more than 100mph in Jersey with strong winds and rains predicted for some parts of the country today.

This week’s storm was named after Ciarán Fearon, a civil servant who works for the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

The storm that battered Britain late last month - Babet - was named by Dutch weather service KMNI after a woman who visited an open day at its headquarters and put her own name forward, as she said she “was born during a storm”.

Storm Agnes was the first official storm of the season, named after Agnes Mary Clerke, an Irish astronomer and science writer.

What Storm comes next after Ciarán?

The Met Office has named the next storm of 2023 Storm Debi.

The exact date of Storm Debi is unknown, though it could hit the UK as early as Saturday - jeopardising bonfire night plans.

The storm is named after Debi Garft, a recently retired policy officer in the Scottish Government Flooding Team.

The next five storms following Debi are:

• Elin 
• Fergus 
• Gerrit
• Henk
• Isha

How are storms named?

For the 2023/24 season, the way the Met Office and Irish service Met Éireann names storms has changed.

Previously, names were drawn from a shortlist of favourites chosen by the public.

But now, the storms will be named after those working to protect people from severe weather around the UK.

In the UK a storm is named if it has the potential to cause disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning.

This helps communicate the seriousness of a storm to the public and helps people recognise what steps to take, the Met Office said.

The Met office, along with Met Eireann in Ireland and KNMI, the Dutch weather service, work together to compile the list of names before the following storm season, which runs from September to August.