Storm Abigail was the first storm to be officially named (jointly) by the

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Met Éireann Met Éireann (; meaning " Met of Ireland") is the state meteorological service of Ireland, part of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. History The history of modern meteorology in Ireland dates back to 8 October 1860, wh ...

of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, on 10 November 2015. It brought high winds, rain, lightning, and wintry showers across the north and northwest of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

On 10 November, a Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office said: "There remains some uncertainty regarding the exact extent and timing of strongest winds but current forecasts suggest that this storm could have some medium impacts such as disruption to transport and so a warning has been issued and the first storm has been named as Abigail." On 12 November, local ferries were affected by bad weather with many services cancelled. It was announced that every school in the Western Isles and

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

were to be closed to pupils on 13 November. The storm left more than 20,000 homes without power, according to energy company SSE. The

Scottish Environment Protection Agency The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA; gd, Buidheann Dìon Àrainneachd na h-Alba) is Scotland's Environmental regulation, environmental regulator and national flood forecasting, flood warning and strategic flood risk management au ...

also warned of the risk of flooding due to the storm, as the weather system was anticipated to create a

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

along the south-west and west coast, due to coincidence with a

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

Background

Earlier in 2015, the Met Office and Met Éireann announced a pilot project to name wind storms and asked the public for suggestions. The full list of names, common to both the UK and Ireland, chosen for future selection are: Abigail, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude, Henry, Imogen, Jake, Katie, Lawrence, Mary, Nigel, Orla, Phil, Rhonda, Steve, Tegan, Vernon and Wendy. A storm will be named when it is deemed able to potentially cause "substantial" impact on the UK or Ireland. They will be taken from the list, in alphabetical order, alternating between male and female names. This is the same naming convention as that used for tropical cyclones in the United States. Where weather events result from ex-tropical storms or hurricanes, the original name allocated by the

National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 3 ...

in the US will be used.

References

{{Weather events in the United Kingdom

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...

2015 meteorology 2015 in Scotland

2015 disasters in the United Kingdom November 2015 events in Europe

History

Background

See also

References