With publication of the latest storm names for 2025/26 on 1 September, we look back at the storm season just gone.
From 1 September 2024 through to 29 August 2025, we have seen six named storms.
Storm Ashley: 20 to 21 October 2024
Storm Ashley marked the beginning of the 2024/25 season, delivering wet and windy conditions across the UK. The strongest winds were recorded in north-western areas, with gusts reaching up to 121mph at Cairngorm Summit. The storm underwent explosive cyclogenesis, with central pressure dropping from 988hPa to 952hPa in just 24 hours.
Travel disruption was widespread, particularly in western Scotland and Northern Ireland. Ferry services were cancelled, flights were grounded at Belfast City Airport, and rail services in Scotland faced cancellations and speed restrictions. Coastal areas experienced large waves and beach erosion, while over 200 homes in north-east Scotland lost power. The Great South Run in Portsmouth was cancelled due to safety concerns.
Storm Bert and Storm Conall: 21 to 27 November 2024
Storm Bert was a multi-hazard event, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, and snow. It was followed closely by Storm Conall, compounding the impacts across the UK.
Storm Bert caused severe flooding, particularly in South Wales, where Pontypridd and Cwmtillery were heavily affected. A landslide in Blaenau Gwent brought sludge into residential areas. Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire saw flooding due to a collapsed wall, and Bradford-on-Avon experienced a burst riverbank. A major incident was declared in Northamptonshire, and over 680 properties were flooded in England. Power outages affected 350,000 homes, and 300 flights were cancelled.
Storm Conall added further rainfall to already saturated ground, causing additional travel disruption.
Storm Bert brought over 150mm of rain to upland areas, with embedded convection producing rain rates exceeding 32mm per hour. Snow was recorded in several locations before melting. The UK recorded its wettest calendar day since October 2020, with 24.0mm of rain on 23 November. Numerous stations set new rainfall records for November.
Wind gusts exceeded 76mph in south-west England, with inland stations also recording high speeds. Cairngorm Summit reached 113mph.
Storm Darragh: 6 to 7 December 2024
Storm Darragh brought very strong winds to western parts of England and Wales, prompting a red warning from the Met Office.
Over 2.3 million customers lost power. Dyfed Powys Police declared a major incident due to fallen trees. Structural damage was reported, including a unit torn from Llandudno Pier and a chapel roof ripped off in Powys. Airports in southern Wales were closed, and rail services across Wales and parts of England and Scotland were disrupted. The M48 Severn Bridge was closed, and several public events were cancelled. Tragically, nine cows were electrocuted in Cornwall, and 22 people were stranded in North Yorkshire.
Storm Darragh tracked east across the UK, with strong north-westerly winds driven by a squeeze in isobars. The Met Office issued a red warning for wind, and millions received emergency alerts. Rainfall totals reached over 100mm in western Wales. Gusts peaked at 96mph at Berry Head, Devon, with inland locations also recording record-breaking speeds.
Storm Éowyn: 24 January 2025
Storm Éowyn was the most powerful windstorm in the UK for over a decade, particularly affecting Northern Ireland and Scotland’s Central Belt.
A red warning was issued, and all schools in the affected areas were closed. Transport was severely disrupted, with trunk roads and rail services halted. Over 1000 flights were cancelled, and power outages affected around a million homes. Property damage was widespread, and fatalities were reported in Ayrshire and County Donegal. The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh suffered significant tree damage.
Storm Éowyn underwent explosive cyclogenesis, with pressure dropping from 991hPa to 941hPa in 24 hours. The lowest pressure recorded was 941.9hPa on Tiree, the lowest since 2013. Gusts reached 135mph at Cairnwell, and hourly mean wind speeds exceeded 97mph at Great Dun Fell. Fifteen stations set new January gust records, highlighting the storm’s severity.
Storm Floris: 4 to 5 August 2025
Storm Floris was notable for its strength during the summer months, affecting northern Scotland with gusts up to 82mph.
Transport disruption was widespread, with rail lines closed and ferry services cancelled. Bridges across Scotland were closed, and flights were cancelled. Over 70,000 properties lost power. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and several botanic gardens were cancelled as a precaution.
Storm Floris tracked northeast, deepening as it moved into the North Sea. Gusts exceeded 69mph widely, with mountain summits recording speeds up to 124mph. Wick Airport equalled Scotland’s August gust speed record. The storm was one of the most severe summer wind events in UK observational records.
Why was there less storms than last year?
Storm frequency shows natural year-to-year variation. Some seasons, like 2023–24 with its record 12 named storms, are exceptionally active, while others are much quieter. This variability is a normal feature of our climate and doesn’t necessarily reflect long-term trends.
Despite fewer named storms this season, we still saw significant impacts. Storm Éowyn, for example, was the UK’s most powerful windstorm in over a decade, with gusts reaching 135mph and widespread disruption across Northern Ireland and Scotland. Storm Bert brought the wettest calendar day since October 2020, and Storm Floris set new August wind records in Scotland.
These events highlight that even in quieter seasons, individual storms can be severe and disruptive. The Met Office continues to monitor and communicate these events using our National Severe Weather Warnings service, helping the public stay informed and prepared for whatever the season may bring.
Did storm naming help?
Storms are named to raise awareness of severe weather before it hits so everyone can stay safe. Post-storm surveys show the effectiveness of naming storms to raise awareness. For Storm Éowyn in January, post-event surveys suggest that 99% of people within the red warning area were aware of the warnings, and 95% of them took action.
Storms are named by Met Office, Met Eireann or KNMI when they are deemed to have the potential to cause ‘medium’ or ‘high’ impacts in one of the countries of the group. This would typically mean when an amber or red warning is expected to be issued at some point during the event.
Have UK storms changed due to climate change?
With only the short dataset of named storms since 2015, it’s not possible to detect trends in storms at this range, so it’s important to look further into the Met Office archives.
Met Office’s Emily Carlisle explained: “The UK has a history of impactful storms stretching back hundreds of years, long before the introduction of named storms in 2015.
“One thing that is clear from observations is that there’s big variability year-to-year in the number and intensity of storms that impact the UK. In our observational records, it’s hard to detect any trend one way or the other in terms of number and intensity of low-pressure systems that cross the UK.
“While our climate overall is getting wetter, there are no compelling trends in increasing storminess in recent decades. Recent stormy seasons – such as that of 2013-2014, before the storm naming system was introduced – clearly illustrate the fundamental problem with drawing conclusions from a simple count of the number of named storms.”
Most climate projections indicate that winter windstorms will increase slightly in number and intensity over the UK as a result of climate change. However, there is medium rather than high confidence in this projection because some climate models indicate differently. Year-to-year variability in storm frequency and intensity will also continue to be a major factor in the future climate. We can be confident that the coastal impacts of windstorms, from storm surges and high waves, will worsen as the sea level rises.
Find full scientific reports for each of the season’s named storms in the Met Office’s UK Storm Centre.
Find out the latest storm names for the 2025/26 season from the Met Office on 1 September 2025.
Keep up to date with weather warnings, and you can find the latest forecast on our website, on YouTube, by following us on X and Facebook, as well as on our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store.
