As the final applause for autumn’s performance dwindles with the falling leaves, a new player primed to command the stage strides forth from the wings. Storm Babet, she’s called, and her imminent arrival is stirring a gale of fluttering speculation and concern across the UK. Forecasted to bring heavy precipitation and veracious winds over the next several days, Babet’s debut promises intense spectacle.
From Wednesday to Saturday, a yellow weather warning swathes the country – a jaundiced caution thrown up ahead of a force of nature. Scotland stands with bated breath, particularly eyeing the oncoming storm with an urgent vigilance. The threat of gusts clocking 60mph and flooding have the nation braced in weathered determination.
Babet, less than a month in the shadow of her preceding sibling, Storm Agnes, taunts the UK’s resilience. Already the second storm of the current 12-month period – which ordinarily begins in early September – this incoming tempest looms large on the horizon.
“Storm Babet will visit a weighty downpour upon much of the UK. Regions particularly in her line of sight include eastern Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England,” states the Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist Steven Keates. The earth, still saturated from recent deluges, offers a ripe setup for consequential flooding.
The custom of naming storms is an age-old practice, originating from America in the 1950s. The objective was to create a more personal relationship with weather forecasts – making these climatic events more relatable and easier to discuss and compare over time. The UK’s Met Office concurs, convinced that the christening of a storm aids in its identification and monitoring on both traditional and social media.
In the modern era, how are these storms named? The UK Met Office, in partnership with Ireland’s Met Éireann, initiated the inaugural “Name our Storms” campaign in 2015, with additional insight provided by the national weather service of the Netherlands since 2019.
Names are primarily drawn from a list of public favourites, although for the present 2023/24 season, the Met Office has deviated slightly from this tradition. In their own words, an honourable roll of eminent scientists, meteorologists, and ‘storm-proofers’ who strive to safeguard the public during adverse conditions were selected to name the new duels of nature.
Notably, the nomination for the storm naming process this year strays from the prior alternating reversion of male and female names, to suitably commemorate the fitting individuals.
Commencing this year’s storm season under the moniker of Agnes Mary Clerke, was an Irish astronomer and science writer. The subsequent storm, Babet, christened so by the Dutch weather agency KMNI, was named after a woman who was born amid the tumult of a storm.
In all likelihood, the country will witness six to seven named storms wreaking havoc annually which means getting letters in the latter end of the alphabet proved challenging. Unfortunately, one shouldn’t expect to be immortalised as a storm, at least not if their name begins with Q, U, X, Y or Z. And while the aftermath of these tempests may be familiar to many, significant wind events that pose extensive damage acquire a name only when the three weather services agree it has the potential to cause serious warnings and alerts.
In various European countries, separate collaborative associations for southern and northern territories name storms, while the National Hurricane Centre bequeaths titles for tropical storms which have reached winds of at least 40mph. These lists are revisited in a six-year cycle maintained by the World Meteorological Organisation. Consequently, the notoriety of named hurricanes surpasses average storms; names, such as Hurricane Katrina, speak volumes in their solitary utterance.
With these facts in mind, we all must prepare for Storm Babet’s significant performance. The coming days will decide the storm’s final act and its potential for flooding and chaos. The key for all of us is to remain vigilant, stay informed, and prepare for whatever Storm Babet may have in store. Take heed of weather updates and listen to the advice of local authorities. Remember, the stage may be set for Babet’s entrance, but how we respond is entirely in our hands.
