Aiden will be the first storm to blow in across Ireland this winter, according to the new list of names released by Met Éireann for this year’s strongest weather systems.

Aiden will be the first storm to blow in across Ireland this winter, according to the new list of names released by Met Éireann for this year’s strongest weather systems.
The list was compiled as a collaboration between Met Éireann, UK Met Office and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).
Bella, Gavin, Julia, Minnie, Oscar, Ravi, Saidhbhín and Wilson are among the storm names.
Naming storms was first introduced by Met Éireann and the UK Met Office in 2015 and joined by the KNMI in 2019.
Evelyn Cusack, Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann and also Chair of the European Met Services’ Storm Naming Working Group, said: “The naming of storms by National Met Services (as well as colour coding weather warnings as Yellow, Orange or Red) provides a clear, authoritative and consistent message to the public and prompts people to take action to prevent harm to themselves or to their property.
“The storm names also add an extra interest for people with particular excitement in a family when one of their names appears in the list. We mostly pick names that can be easily pronounced but some are less generally recognised.”
Once a storm is named by any national meteorological service globally, the name is retained if the storm moves into Irish waters. For instance, Ophelia and Lorenzo were named by the National Hurricane Center (NHC, USA) and Emma by IPMA (Portugal).
The names are in alphabetical order, alternating between genders. Following the NHC convention names beginning with Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used.
The 2020/21 Storm names are: Aiden, Bella, Christoph, Darcy, Evert, Fleur, Gavin, Heulwen, Iain, Julia, Klaas, Lilah, Minne, Naia, Oscar, Phoebe, Ravi, Saidhbhín, Tobias, Veronica, Wilson.