Brace yourself for Storm Angus: The Met Office has released this year’s list of storm names
Brace yourselves, for Angus and Barbara may be about to rampage through the UK: yes, the Met Office has issued its list of storm names for the 2016/17 season. Goodbye, Nigel – hello Natalie.
Also included on the list are Conor, Doris and Ewan, plus some with a more multicultural flavour, such as Kamil.
Irish boy's name Oisin also appears – although the Met Office has thoughtfully included a guide to its pronunciation ('Oh-sheen').
Read more: Why does the Met Office give names to storms?
The Met Office unveiled its first-ever list of storm names last year – the crowdfunded list included Nigel, Steve and Abigail (although they missed a trick with Abi-gale).
This year's list comes from suggestions submitted via social media, although they don't quite have the same 1970s flavour.
Today the Met Office said the names were "quickly adopted by the public [and] the media", with 11 storms named in all.
"By naming storms more people were made aware of the approaching threat of severe weather and were able to act on this information," said Derek Ryall, head of public weather services at Met Office.
"A YouGov survey based on the first seven storms showed that 55 per cent of those surveyed took steps to prepare for stormy weather after hearing that a storm had been named. People were therefore better informed." So perhaps the names did make us more aware of the weather.
The next season runs from 1 October, and will apply to weather systems which have the potential to cause an amber "be prepared" or red "take action" warning.
The Met Office added its naming system could soon be expanded include different kinds of weather.
"In future 'storm systems' would be named on the basis of impacts from wind but could also include the impacts of rain and snow," it said. Bring on Thunderstorm Theresa…