Met Éireann, in partnership with the UK Met Office and the Netherlands' Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), announced the official storm names list for the 2026/27 weather season on Tuesday. The new storm season officially begins Sept. 1, 2026, and runs through Aug. 31, 2027.

Each of the three national meteorological services contributed seven names to compile the 21-name list, which follows an alphabetical sequence excluding the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z in accordance with international naming conventions. The Western Europe storm-naming system, established in 2015, aims to improve public safety communications and tracking when severe weather events are forecast to bring medium or high impacts.

To mark the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Irish Meteorological Service in 1936, Met Éireann selected four historically significant names to honor pioneers from its past. The choices recognize Austen Nagle, the service's first director; Evelyn Murphy, the first woman to present weather forecasts on Irish television; Kilian Rohan, a former director of Met Éireann; and Miriam Lyons, the first woman to hold an operational role as a meteorological officer in Ireland. Met Éireann's remaining three selections—Heather, Laoise, and Phelim—were chosen from a longlist of public submissions gathered during a campaign last year.

Eoin Sherlock, Head of the Forecasting Division at Met Éireann, said that assigning consistent names during severe weather events helps the public better engage with official forecasts and safety guidance. He added that the service's 90th milestone provided a fitting occasion to recognize foundational figures in Irish meteorological history.

The full 2026/27 sequence features Austen, Boelo, Chloe, Dano, Evelyn, Finn, Gwendolyn, Heather, Ivy, Jade, Kilian, Laoise, Miriam, Nicola, Olaf, Phelim, Ruban, Shaun, Theo, Vesna, and Wende. A storm is formally named by whichever national weather agency expects to see the earliest or most severe impact, typically coinciding with the issuance of amber or red warnings for wind, rain, or snow.