FOIManager@metoffice.gov.

uk
Matt Burgess Direct tel: +44(0)1392885680
mattburgess 100@gmail.com Direct fax: +44(0)1392885681

Our Ref: 0042689

16 March 2016

Dear Mr Burgess,

Request for lnforrnatlon under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR)

2004

Your correspondence dated 20 February 2016 has been considered to be a request for
information in accordance with the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

You asked:

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the information
set out below.

Please provide me with:

1. Any list of rejected storm names for those picked by the Met Office to represent storm
names.

2. Information surrounding the decision making process of the names of the storms
which were picked

3. Minutes of the meeting where the names of storms were picked.

I look forward to your response within the statutory time limits set out by the Act.

The Met Office holds some of this information.

On 8 September 2015 the Met Office and Met Eireann announced a pilot project to name
wind storms that are expected to affect the UK and Ireland. Details of the 'Name our
Storms' pilot project are provided on our website page:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/in-depth/name-our-storms

The Met Office used social media to gather names for inclusion in the list, through a
variety of ways:

Tweeting
Met Office Facebook pages
. By sending an email to pressoffice@metoffice.gov.uk.
FitzRoy Road, Exeter
Devon, EXl 3PB The names were collated and a list compiled to include those proposed by Met Eireann,
United Kingdom
Tel: 03709000100
Fax: 0370 900 5050
enquiries@metoffice.gov.uk
www.metoffice.gov.uk
The Met Office does not hold a list of rejected names. However, to provide advice and
assistance, I can confirm some names were excluded in accordance with policy.

Some names were excluded through policy of r~tiring names elsewhere in the world:

The following link shows. names which have been retired for the Atlantic and North
Pacific: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/B3.htm I

For the Australian region the following names have been retired: Hamish, Laurence,
Magda, Carlos, Heidi, Isobel, Jasmine, Lam, Lua, Marcia, Rubina,

For Fiji: Ami, Beni, Cilia, Cliff, Daman, Eseta, Funa, Gene, Heta, Ivy, Meena, Nancy,
Olaf, Percy. .

The South-West Indian region does not recycle names and so they are not retired
officially and the North Indian Ocean region has not gone through one cycle of its list of
names yet.

Other 'names' were discounted because they were not proper names, these include:
Armegeddon, Apocalypse, Baldrick, Big Boss, Bilbo, BlackHeart, Bluetooth, branch
wobbler, Cyclops, DarkBloom, Excalibur, Freebooter, Forkbeard, Gale, Gnasher,
Goliath, Goldeneye, Hades, Hammer, Holy Flying Circus, ForkBeard, Howitzer, Icy, In A
Teacup (or Ena Tee Cup), Jelbuoy, King Henry V, Hot Brew, Kraken, leaf shaker, leaf
stripper, Lionheart, Maelstrom, Magneto, Megatron, Melbourne, Minatour, Mr Brown,
NastyBoy,Oblivion, Noddy, Poacher, Power, Poplar, Polaris, root ripper, Queen Victoria,
Skylab, Smaug, Splasher, Stair rod, Stomp, Stormageddon, Sssweetcaroline, Swoosh,
Tempest, Tetley, Thrasher, Thumper, Tiger, Torch, trunk trembler, Twizzle, Typhoon,
Valkyrie, Vader, Voldemort, Wheatherwax, Wookie, Zebedee,

The names of retailers such as B&Q, Asda etc. were also excluded.

The decision to pick the names was not made at a meeting, therefore no meeting
minutes are held. The Met Office does however hold email correspondence between
staff at Met Office and Met Eireann discussing which names were picked.

Please note the details of individuals are withheld in accordance with the exception
under Regulation 13 of EIR, as release of personal data to a member of the public would
contravene the data protection principles. Among other things, disclosure of personal
data would contravene the first principle set out in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act
1998 of fair and lawful processing.

I hope this answers your enquiry.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-
commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-
use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright
holder. Most documents supplied by the Met Office will have been produced by
government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the
arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright on the Met Office website at:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/legal/licences.html. Information you receive which
is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the
person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you'
gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright)
information.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an
internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the.
 rF
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date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to me in
the first instance, Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
Met Officecommunications.
If you are not content With the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF hUp:llwww.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely,
FOI Team

FitzRoy Road, Exeter

Devon, EXl 3PB
United Kingdom
Tel: 03709000100
Fax: 0370 900 5050
enquiries@metoffice.gov.uk
www.metoffice.gov.uk