Severe weather event naming list released

Storm Petros? How about heatwave Maria, or cyclone Cornelius? The met office on Friday released the naming list for upcoming severe weather events over the next year.

The list, jointly compiled by Cyprus, Greece and Israel, alternates between a name proposed by each country.

That means the next severe event will be named Avgi, as put forth by Cyprus.

After that it will be Israel’s Ben, followed by Greece’s Cornelius.

The other names chosen by Cyprus are Doros, Gea, Maria, Petros, Sofia, Vyron and Yakinthi.

Greece went for Cornelius, Fedra, Iris, Leonidas, Olympias, Raphael, Urania, and Xenophon.

Israel, meanwhile, chose Ben, Eden, Hilel, Keren, Nir, Qamar, Tal, Widad, and Ziv.

The met office explained that the reason for naming severe weather events is to raise awareness amongst the public through the media and social media. It explained that naming the events makes it easier to discuss and alert the public.

It added that the list will cover the period between October 2023 and September 2024. They are placed in alphabetical order and was drawn up jointly between the three nations’ met offices – “reflecting the linguistic idiom of the three”.