*updated August 31st 2020**
In this blog post we take a look back at Met Office named storms over recent years.
2019/20 had only 4 named storms the lowest since the Met Office started naming storms. It felt like there where a lot as they occurred one in a relatively short space of time. The 19/20 season is pretty much finished now there is a low chance of another named storm which happened in 2018 with Storm Hector.
Oh boy this became outdated fast. So we did have two more named storms this season Storm Ellen and Storm Francis.
In total the 2019/20 season had 6 named Met Office Storms
Atiya, Brendan, Ciara, Dennis, Ellen and Francis.
2018/19 had 8 Named Storms
Ali, Bronagh, Calum, Derdire, Erik Freya, Gareth and Hannah.
2017/18 had 8 named Storms.
Aileen, Brain, Caroline, Dylan, Eleanor, Fionn, Georgina and Hector
2016/17 had 5 named Storms
Angus, Barabara, Coner, Doris and Ewan
2015/16 had 11 named Storms
Abigail, Barney, cloudagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude, Henry, Imogen, Jake, Katie
5 seasons in to this and the next year making it the 6th Season. I am far more of fan then I used to be of naming storms. It raises awareness. I have gone into depth about naming storms in the past so I am not going to go into that again.
We did a weather blog back in March chatting about Storm Brendan and its impacts on the islands you can find this here
https://westernislesweather.com/2020/03/07/weather-blog/
Some of the notable storms to impact the Western Isles include –
Storm Abigail with 84 mph at South Uist range 12-13 November 2015
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-abigail
Storm Frank with 85 mph at South Uist range and 70 mph at Benbecula 29-30 December 2015
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-frank
Storm Gertrude with 79 at South Uist range 29th January 2016
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-gertrude
Storm Henry with 90 mph at South Uist range, 85 mph at Benbecula and 79 mph at Stornoway. 1st and 2nd February 2016
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-henry
Storm Barbara brought winds of 75 mph to South Uist range 23rd and 24th December 2016
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-barbara
Storm Conor 83 mph winds at South Uist range 25th and 26th December 2016
Storm Georgina brought winds of 85 mph at South Uist range 24th January 2018.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/uk-storm-season-2017-18
Storm Brendon 87 mph at South Uist range on the 13th January 2020.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-brendan
What I have noticed int he 17 years of living here is that our winters go in cycles we have years when the storms are less bad and other winters where we get slammed by multiple storms. This is evident in the highlighted storms above which have given us the greatest strong winds. I am curious to see what the upcoming winter brings. I stress its just a hunch at this stage and nothing more but I think we could be in line for some strong storms this winter if it follows usual patterns.
I hope you have enjoyed this blog post about Met Office named storms. I will do another blog post when the Met office release the name Storms of 2020/21.
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