2023–24 European windstorm season
| First storm formed | 25 September 2023 |
|---|---|
| Total storms | 1 |
| Total fatalities | 0 |
| 1Strongest storm is determined by lowest pressure and maximum recorded non-mountainous wind gust is also included for reference. ← 2022–23 2024–25 → | |
The 2023–24 European windstorm season is the ninth season of the European windstorm naming in Europe. The new season's storm names were announced on 1 September 2023. Storms that occur up until 31 August 2024 will be included in this season. This was the fifth season where the Netherlands participated, alongside the United Kingdom's Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann in the western group. The Portuguese, Spanish, French and Belgian meteorological agencies collaborated for the seventh time, joined by Luxembourg's agency (South-western group). This is the third season where Greece, Israel and Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean group), and Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malta (Central Mediterranean group) named storms which affected their areas.
Background and naming
Definitions and naming conventions
There is no universal definition of what constitutes a windstorm in Europe, nor is there a universally accepted system of naming storms. For example, in the Western Group, consisting of the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands, a storm is named if one of the meteorological agencies in those countries issues an orange warning (amber in the UK), which generally requires a likelihood of widespread sustained wind speeds greater than 65 km/h, or widespread wind gust speeds over 110 km/h. (Required wind speeds vary slightly by agency and by season.) Both the likelihood of impact and the potential severity of the system are considered when naming a storm.[1][2][3] The Southwest Group of Spain, Portugal, and France share a similar storm-naming scheme, though their names differ from those used by the Western Group.[4] In Greece, however, naming criteria were established for storms when the storm's forecasted winds are above 50 km/h over land, with the wind expected to have a significant impact to infrastructures.[5] In Denmark, a windstorm must have an hourly average windspeed of at least 90 km/h (25 m/s).[6]
The Meteorology Department of the Free University of Berlin (FUB) names all high and low pressure systems that affect Europe, though they do not assign names to any actual storms.[7] A windstorm that is associated with one of these pressure systems will at times be recognized by the name assigned to the associated pressure system by the FUB. Named windstorms that have been recognized by a European meteorological agency are described in this article.
Naming conventions used in Europe are generally based on conditions that are forecast, not conditions that have actually occurred, as public awareness and preparedness are often cited as the main purpose of the naming schemes–for example, a reference.[2] Therefore, an assignment of a storm name does not mean that a storm will actually develop.
Western Group (United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands)
In 2015, the Met Office and Met Éireann announced a project to name storms as part of the "Name our Storms" project for windstorms and asked the public for suggestions. The meteorological offices produced a full list of names for 2015–2016 through 2017–2018, common to both the United Kingdom and Ireland, with the Netherlands taking part from 2019 onwards. Names in the United Kingdom will be based on the National Severe Weather Warning Service.
The following names were chosen for the 2023–24 season in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. [8] For a windstorm to be named, the United Kingdom's Met Office, Ireland's Met Eireann, and the Netherlands KNMI have to issue an amber weather warning, preferably for wind, but a storm can also be named for amber warnings of rain and snow (e.g. Storm Arwen in 2021).[9]
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South-western Group (France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg)
This was the seventh year in which the meteorological agencies of France, Spain and Portugal named storms that affected their areas. [10]
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Central Mediterranean Group (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malta)
The following names were chosen for the 2023–24 season in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malta.[11]
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Northern Group (Denmark, Norway and Sweden)
This naming group, like the naming from the Free University of Berlin, does not use a naming list but names storms when it has not received a name by any other meteorological service in Europe and is projected to affect Denmark, Norway or Sweden.
Season summary
All storms named by European meteorological organisations in their respective forecasting areas, as well as Atlantic hurricanes that transitioned into European windstorms and retained the name assigned by the National Hurricane Center:
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Season effects
| Storm | Dates active | Highest wind gust | Lowest pressure | Areas affected | Fatalities (+missing) | Damage | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
See also
References
- ^ "Weather Warnings Explanation". Met Éireann The Irish Meteorological Service. Met Éireann. Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ a b "UK Storm Centre". Met Office. UK Met Office. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ "KNMI waarschuwingen" (in Dutch). KNMI. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ Leitao, Paula; Roulet, Bernard; Rey, Jaime (September 2018). "Storm naming: the First Season of Naming by the South-west Group: Spain-Portugal-France" (PDF). The European Forecaster (Newsletter of the WGCEF) (23): 33–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ Kotroni, V; Lagouvardos, K; Bezes, A; Dafis, S; Galanaki, E; Giannaros, C; Giannaros, T; Karagiannidis, A; Koletsis, I; Kopania, T; Papagiannaki, K; Papavasileiou, G, G; Vafeiadis, V, V; Vougioulas, E (2021). "Storm Naming in the Eastern Mediterranean: Procedures, Events Review and Impact on the Citizens Risk Perception and Readiness". Atmosphere. 12 (11): 1537. Bibcode:2021Atmos..12.1537K. doi:10.3390/atmos12111537.
- ^ "Storms in Denmark since 1891" (PDF). dmi.dk. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Naming the Weather: Institute of Meteorology at Freie Universität Assigns Names to Weather Highs and Lows for the Year Ahead: Starting September 25, 2013". Freie Universität Berlin Office of Communication and Marketing. Freie Universität Berlin. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2023/weather-responders-included-in-2023-24-storm-names
- ^ "UK storm centre". Met Office. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ https://www.aemet.es/es/conocermas/borrascas/2023-2024
- ^ https://www.meteoam.it/it/storm-naming