Dutch media reported yesterday that the first major storm of next season will be named Antony. But VTM weatherman David Tehenau introduced Armand to Armand Pine on Twitter. Confusion around?
‘I had already suggested the name Armand last year,’ says David Dehanau. But there are many lists in circulation, it is true. For example, Belgium is in the Southwest Group of Europe. If a storm is launched in a country from that group, it will be given the name prescribed there.’ On September 1, the RMI compiled a list of storm names with colleagues from France, Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg. Another list has been prepared by the Met Offices of Ireland, United Kingdom and Netherlands. ‘So it all depends on which country recognizes the storm as a storm,’ says Tehanau. ‘So we’re talking about a code orange for the wind farm.’
Different criteria
The criteria for the color codes are different for each country, but for Belgium an orange code applies if the speed is above 90 km/h in the summer half and 100 km/h in the winter half. Also, strong winds should be associated with storm surges and not thunderstorms, as they are mostly localized. In some cases, a storm may also be named as code yellow when significant impact is expected – for example, in storms with heavy rain or snow.
There are only 21 names in the alphabetical list, 26 are missing. The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z were removed due to lack of options. The name list also alternates between male and female. Even then there are differences. The Dutch name list opens with Antony. If we get Dehenauw for our part of Europe, Armand would be another person’s name. Later, Beatrice, Claudio, Denis and Efrain will follow.
A special name on the list is Jean-Louis, in honor of Jean-Louis van Ham. He was a meteorologist at the KMI Weather Room and a weather announcer at RTBF in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the first television weather forecaster associated with RMI on the French-speaking side. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 88.
‘We don’t have a European catalog yet, but things are improving,’ says Dehenau. ‘Each language region had a different name. When a storm is named, the public is alerted. It encourages communication. So let’s keep America’s name,’ he said.
