The leaves may have left the trees but the skies still entertain. Now that the UK’s Met Office and Met Éireann, its Irish equivalent, have taken to naming ‘storms’ that blow in from the Atlantic, the weather has suddenly become more personal. First there was Abigail who didn’t make much of a show in Northumberland – stood up by a storm. Then there was the remnants of ex-hurricane Kate, and now we await the arrival of Barney, followed by Clodagh, Desmond and Eva etc.
According to the Guardian: “To avoid confusion, if a storm is the dying gusts of a tropical storm or hurricane that has crossed the ocean, it will still be styled according to the current convention of “ex-hurricane X”, as chosen by the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami”.
The list alternates between male and female names through the alphabet. Sadly for all those Quillans and Xaviers out there, Q, U, X, Y and Z will be omitted, in line with “the convention for official storm naming in the North Atlantic”. Nice work if you can get it 🙂
Call them what you like, they have provided some spectacular autumnal skies over Hexham these last few days, with or without a little post-processing 😉 :
northumbrian : light 
These are lovely shots. The burst of light in the middle one is so joyous and hopeful.
Many thanks Su – that was taken the night before Abigail failed to show 🙂
What a beautiful autumn you are having! That top image is wonderful-nature never ceases to delight!
Many thanks Meg – every sky is different. PS – I really like your recent posts – apologies for the lack of comments but life is a rush at the moment 😦
one great side effect of storms….beautifully captured
Many thanks Seonaid, there are rewards for dodging the rain 😉
Gorgeous sky. I think this autumn we have had such incredible sky. I’ve been in heaven.
Thanks Cate – whatever is causing it, I am all in favour 🙂
Mesmerizing skies. I’ve wondered who has this very important job of naming storms. Maybe nowadays it’s done by computer?
Thanks Julie, they are infinitely variable – unlike the storm names. The good lady thinks they are derived from the workers at the various weather forecasting organisations.
A lovely selection, Robin. Love the last one especially. Rainbows always draw me in.
Many thanks Jean – there is much that is artificial about that last one but the rainbow is real enough 🙂
Rainbows have all sorts of ways of playing with reality, don’t you think?
I agree, Robin. 🙂 The sunrises in particular have been spectacular.
I keep missing those Jo – #lazybones 😀
So is my husband 🙂
awesome photos, I especially like the middle one with the dark brooding sky and the sunlit tree!
Many thanks – little did I know when I wrote this that storm Desmond would cause so much trouble locally. How can a storm named ‘Desmond’ be so malign 🙂
I know, its such a lovely name! pretty even 🙂 well, now we know!! cheers, Debi