Why Is The Storm Called Eunice?

The Met Office has issued a weather warning for the whole of England and Wales as Storm Eunice looks set to batter the country.

Experts are now urging people to "stay indoors", with a "danger to life" Amber warning in place for large parts of the country on 18th February 2022.

A Met Office forecaster has even warned that Storm Eunice could be the worst in 30 years, saying it could be the strongest since the Burns Day storm of 1990. 

But why is the storm called Eunice? Here’s all the info you need to know. 

Why is it called storm Eunice?

This particular storm, Eunice, was named by the British public, after the Met office ran a poll for suggestions of future storm names for the season. 

This particular storm, Eunice, was named by the British public, after the Met office ran a poll for suggestions of future storm names for the season (Met office).

Together with the Met office, Met Éireann and KNMI, the three weather organisations compiled a list of storm names for each letter of the alphabet, except for Q, U, X, Y and Z, in order to adhere to storm naming conventions. 

Eunice therefore marks the fifth named weather storm of the season in the UK, continuing after the likes of Arwen, Barra, Corrie and Dudley. 

The full list of the UK names for storms in the 2021/2022 season are:

• Arwen
• Barra
• Corrie
• Dudley
• Eunice
• Franklin
• Gladys
• Herman
• Imani
• Jack
• Kim
• Logan
• Méabh
• Nasim
• Olwen
• Pól
• Ruby
• Seán
• Tineke
• Vergil
• Willemien

Why do they name storms?

The three weather organisations have opted to name storms in recent years in order to aid the media and the public communicate and understand the impact of severe weather events, like storms.

A storm is named based on both the impact the weather may have, and how likely any impactful weather events will occur. 

The Met Office also explained that a storm gets its name when it has potential to warrant an amber or red weather warning.