How to pronounce Ciarán as storm batters UK

Storm Ciarán has hit the UK with strong winds and heavy rain while weather warnings have also been issued.

With wind speeds of up to 104mph, as the storm crosses the southern half of the country severe amber warnings have been put in place by the Met Office for the southwest and southeast of England.

Meanwhile, the Port of Dover has suspended all sailings while train companies have urged people not to travel to work today and some schools have been closed due to the bad weather.

This is the second storm to hit the UK in just two weeks after Storm Babet caused heavy rainfall and flooding in Scotland.

Storm Ciarán is the third storm in the 12-month season, which commences at the start of September.

But how exactly was this storm named?

Storms have been given names dating back to the 1950s, in a bid for people to engage with weather forecasts more as a name makes news about a particular storm easier to follow.

The first "Name our Storms" campaign was launched in 2015 by the UK Met Office and Irish service Met Éireann where the names are chosen from a shortlist that are selected by the public.

(While the Netherlands's national weather service has also suggested names too).

However for this season (2023/24), this method of name selection changed and instead has seen a number of storms named after prominent scientists, and meteorologists "who work to keep people safe in times of severe weather" the BBC reported.

So previously, the storm's names have rotated between male and female names, but this year this has changed as different people are honoured.

Therefore, Storm Ciarán is named after Ciarán Fearon, a civil servant who works in the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

As part of his role, Fearon ensures key information is shared on river levels and coastal flooding.

How is the name Ciarán pronounced?

Ciarán is a name of Irish origin and is pronounced as 'keer-awn'.

What are the other storm names?

Since we're only in October, we can certainly expect more storms this season - six to seven storms affect the UK on average.

Here is a full list of the 2023 storm names:

• Agnes
• Babet
• Ciarán
• Debi
• Elin
• Fergus
• Gerrit
• Henk
• Isha
• Jocelyn
• Kathleen
• Lilian
• Minnie
• Nicholas
• Olga
• Piet
• Regina
• Stuart
• Tamiko
• Vincent
• Walid

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