Athina, Paris among new names for extreme weather

Starting Friday, the weather services of Cyprus, Greece, and Israel will start naming extreme weather systems affecting the eastern Mediterranean region between October 2021 and September 2022.

The list of names selected was jointly drafted by the three services and reflects idioms used in the three countries.

The list for this period are: Athina, Ballos, Carmel, Diomedes, Elpis, Filippos, Genesis, Helios, Irit, Kalypso, Lavi, Meliti, Nikias, Ora, Paris, Raphael, Semeli, Thomas, Urania, Vion, Xenios, Yasmin, and Zefyros.

Naming an extreme weather system will be decided by representatives of the three services during weekly meetings where all available information will be used to assess the progress of a phenomenon.

The reasoning behind the decision is to sensitise the public through the mass media and to help emergency services in the dissemination of information about extreme weather phenomena, ensuring the protection of human life and property.