Why Storm Claudia is not on the Met Office list of named storms

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for Friday, when the storm will lash Wales and the south east of England.

Claudia comes hot on the heels of Benjamin, which brought 75mph gusts of wind to the UK and caused disruption.

However, neither Claudia nor Benjamin are considered to be “named storms” by the Met Office, and Amy has been the only entry into the canon for 2025/26 so far.

Instead, Bram is set to be the next storm that will be named by the Met Office, whenever it strikes.

But why is this the case?

Why is Claudia not a Met Office named storm?

The Met Office works in conjunction with Met Eireann in Ireland and Dutch weather service KMNI to compile an A-Z list of storm names every year.

The storm year begins in September and ends at the end of August, so any letters that were not reached by the end of summer are redundant.

It only names storms that originated in any of those three countries, however, that are given a name assigned after a mass-publicised public poll of suggestions.

Storms that originate in other countries which blow over to the UK are given the name assigned by their respective weather agency.

In this case, Claudia was named by the Spanish Meteorological Service.

The storm names given for 2025-2026 by the Met Office, KMNI and Met Eireann

Here are the names and where they originated.

• Amy (Met Office), (which struck on October 3-4)

• Bram (KNMI),
• Chandra (Ch-an-dra) (Met Eireann),
• Dave (Met Office),
• Eddie (KNMI),
• Fionnuala (Fee-new-lah) (Met Éireann),
• Gerard (Jer-ard) (Met Éireann),
• Hannah (KNMI),
• Isla (Met Office),
• Janna (Yah-nah) (KNMI),
• Kasia (Ka-shaa) (Met Éireann),
• Lilith (KNMI),
• Marty (Met Éireann),
• Nico (KNMI),
• Oscar (Met Office),
• Patrick (Met Éireann),
• Ruby (Met Office),
• Stevie (Met Office),
• Tadhg (Tie-g) (Met Éireann),
• Violet (Met Office),
• Wubbo (Vuh-boh) (KNMI)