#uk storms

So this was something that came up at work, because it turns out me and my boss have the oddest conversations while we are testing and debugging things.

In the UK the Met Office (which is responsible for naming the storms that hit the UK) name storms after people (not specific people, just random people) and they alternate between male and female names throughout the year.

This year, they started with Atiyah (which is quite progressive of them) and moved on to Brendan (which we are currently being battered with - which is why this topic came up).

We were talking about Storm Brendan (which I initially thought was called Storm Bernard) and no one could remember what Storm “A” was called. Given I am a huge PLL fan I thought it might have literally been “Storm A” but no one else understood that reference so I gave up.

Then - when we got on to other storms, someone mentioned Ursula for “U” and they said it was because of Ursula Andress (of James Bond fame) and I said it was Ursula of Little Mermaid fame, which just goes to show how wildly diverse the fandoms in our office are.

Which then lead me to suggest you could name ALL the storms in a year after Disney characters. And my boss said “go on then - do it tonight”

So I have homework from my boss entirely unrelated to my job. Which is always fun, and which leads me to the subject of my post...........

The FANDOM STORM CHALLENGE

Pick a fandom - I suggest one with a lot of male and female characters otherwise you will be screwed - and see if you can name 26 storms after them.

However there is a catch.

You have to have 13 male names, and 13 female names.

And it gets worse.

Because there is one for each letter of the alphabet.

And it gets still worse.

Because they have to alternate.

So if you start with a female name (Ariel, Aria, Arwen etc) then the next name has to be a male name (Bashful, Byron, Bilbo) and then the next has to be a female name (Cinderella and so on).

You can impose as many or as few rules on yourself as you wish - first names/last names/nicknames etc. I am not your mother and really don’t care one way or the other.

It’s mostly just a bit of fun :)

And, of course, when you have completed it one way, you can try it the other. If you started with a female name, start with a male name and generate a list of another 26 names A-Z. Or if you started with a male name, start with..... well - you get the idea.

I found it kind of fun working on it my lunch hour, because even in the world of Disney, the letters I, X, Y and Z gave me a bit of a problem. (Female, Male, Female and Male if you are curious).

UK Storm Names : How did we manage without them? Apparently, the phenomena that is the naming of winter storms by the Met Office began only began as recently as November 2015 with Storm Abigail -seems like a lot longer than that and here in the Timber Composite Doors we are seriously wondering what is…

UK News

Storms and heavy rain predicted on hottest day of the year

Temperatures could hit the hottest of the year today - but torrential downpours and "intense" thunderstorms are also forecast to sweep across the country. Despite blue skies greeting most of the UK, people in the South West and Wales are expected to wake up to torrential downpours as well as thunder and lightning. The Met Office has warned of potential flooding, as an inch of rain is expected to fall in an hour in the south.

We were already seeing thundery activity across the South West and as temperatures continue to rise it will lead to more. Friday night could be a lively one.

Met Office statement

The fine and bright start for the rest of the country could see temperatures push as high as 26C or 27C in London. The hottest recorded day of the year so far was last Friday, June 5, when thermometers hit 26.7C in Frittenden in Kent. But today's sunshine will be interrupted in the mid-afternoon in the south when "isolated and intense thunderstorms" will start, reaching the north by the evening, according to the Met Office.

We will be left with quite chilly nights but nice, sunny days.