The 2019–20 European windstorm season was the fifth instance of seasonal European windstorm naming in Europe. This is the first season in which the Netherlands participates, joining Ireland's and the United Kingdom's meteorological agencies. The new season's storm names were released on 6 September 2019. In July 2019, it was announced that storm seasons would run from 1 September 2019 to 1 September 2020. The Portuguese, Spanish and French meteorological agencies again collaborated too, joined by the Belgian meteorological agency.
Background and naming
In 2015, the Met Office and Met Éireann announced a pilot project to name storm warnings as part of the "Name our Storms" project for wind storms and asked the public for suggestions. The meteorological offices produced a full list of names for 2015–16 through to 2017–18, 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, when a storm is assessed to have the potential for an Amber ('be prepared') or Red ('take action (danger to life)') warning.
There are two main naming lists: one created by the national meteorological agencies of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, and another created by the equivalent agencies from France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Additionally, former Atlantic hurricanes will retain their names as assigned by the National Hurricane Center of the United States.
United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands
The following names have been selected for the 2019–2020 season:
'Liam' was chosen through a poll made by Met Éireann on Twitter.
France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium
This will be the third year in which the meteorological agencies of France, Spain and Portugal will be naming storms which affect their areas. This naming scheme is partially overlapping with that used by the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, as storms named by the other group of agencies will be used reciprocally.
The following names have been selected for the 2019–2020 season:
Other naming systems
Two former Atlantic systems (One of them being a hurricane and the other being a tropical storm) transitioned into a European windstorm and retained its name as assigned by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida:
Besides these naming systems, the Free University of Berlin also names high and low pressure areas through its "Adopt a vortex" programme. The Nordic nations of Denmark, Norway and Sweden also name storms with more limited reciprocation. Other nations may also name storms either through their national meteorological institutions or popularly.
Season summary
The first system of the season was Storm Lorenzo, when Met Éireann issued yellow wind warnings for Ireland and an orange warning for the western coastal counties. The storm consisted of the remnants of Hurricane Lorenzo, which had turned extratropical. The next named system was Amélie, named by Météo-France on 1 November. Storm Bernardo was named next, by the Spanish meteorological agency, AEMET. This system primarily affected the Balearic Islands. Cecilia was named next by AEMET, when the agency warned of rain and wind on the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
On 6 December, the Irish meteorological agency named Atiyah, the first system to receive its name from the Irish, British and Dutch storm naming list. After Atiyah passed, storms Daniel, Elsa and Fabien were named in quick succession on 15, 16 and 18 December, respectively. Storms Brendan and Gloria were next to be named by Met Éireann and AEMET, respectively, after a quiet start to January 2020. Hervé was named by Météo-France on 3 February, after the agency expected wind gusts of up to at Corsica's coast. A few days later, on 5 February, Ciara was named by Met Office, warning of heavy rain and gales throughout the United Kingdom.
Following Ciara, Dennis was named by the Met Office on 11 February 2020. The agency warned of heavy rain and gales across the United Kingdom. A day later, Inès was named by the French meteorological agency. The agency warned of wind speeds up to in the northern part of France on 13 February. The Spanish meteorological agency named Jorge next, warning of seas high on 29 February through 2 March and snow around . Following Jorge, Karine, Leon, Myriam and Norberto were named in quick succession, on 29 February, 1, 3 and 5 March, respectively. Karine was named by AEMET, while Leon, Myriam and Norberto were named by Météo-France.