This year,the Met Office started naming extreme weather events to avoid confusion. But does calling a storm Desmond really help?Abigail, Barney, and Clodagh,Desmond and Eva. These may sound like the first few names on the register at a trendy north London primary school, as one comedian has suggested. But to the people of northern England, and being battered by high winds,incessant rain and the resulting floods, the list is anything but amusing.
For these are the names of the first five storms to hit the UK since the Met Office decided earlier this year to adopt the US conference of naming extreme weather events. And now the sixth storm to hit the UK in rapid succession – Storm Frank – is causing untold distress to thousands of householders across a wide swath of Britain.
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Source: theguardian.com