Storm Pia is set to impact the UK today (Thursday, December 21) with strong winds battering certain areas.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for Scotland, Northern Ireland, north Wales and parts of northern and eastern England until 9pm.

Through the early hours of Thursday morning, gusts reached 60-80 mph across the northern half of the UK.

It has caused plenty of disruption to travel with the rail operator TransPennine Express urging people not to use services to and from Edinburgh before mid-afternoon.

But how did Storm Pia get its name and how are UK storm names decided upon generally?

How are UK storm names decided?

Storms as a whole are named so people can more easily engage with weather forecasts, with the practice being established in the 1950s.

In 2015, following the success of the US model, the UK Met Office and Irish service Met Éireann launched their first "Name our Storms" campaign, BBC News reports.

Most years, they draw the names from a shortlist of favourites submitted by the public.

Additionally, they have been joined by the National Weather Service of the Netherlands who contribute a few names each year.

As part of the 2023/24 weather season, the Met Office has named a number of storms after prominent scientists, meteorologists and other people involved in the weather.

What do different Met Office weather warnings mean?

In the past, storms have alternated between male and female names but that has altered this year in order to honour the right people.

An almost full alphabet of names is put forward each year, except for ones beginning with Q, U, X, Y and Z. The storms for 2023 are:

  • Agnes
  • Babet
  • Ciarán
  • Debi
  • Elin
  • Fergus
  • Gerrit
  • Henk
  • Isha
  • Jocelyn
  • Kathleen
  • Lilian
  • Minnie
  • Nicholas
  • Olga
  • Piet
  • Regina
  • Stuart
  • Tamiko
  • Vincent
  • Walid

Only around six to seven storms impact the UK during a season, so there are many names that won't be used for it.

Why has Storm Pia not been named by the UK Met Office?

You might have noticed that Pia is not among the 2023 UK storm names listed above, and that is because it was not named by the UK Met Office.

Instead, it has been named by the Danish Met Service as the storm is likely to have a greater impact there.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Paul Gundersen, said: "This system has been named Storm Pia by the Danish Met Service, with the system likely to have more severe impacts in Denmark.”