The Met Office Name Our Storms campaign has won an award for the Best Public Sector Social Media Campaign

The Social Buzz Awards bring together individuals and companies at the forefront of social media offering an opportunity to highlight some of the best social campaigns.

This award highlights what a key role social media played in the launch of the Name Our Storms campaign and continues to play as the Met Office’s pilot scheme starts its second year.

The Met Office joined forces with Met Eireann last year to launch the pilot project to name wind storms that were expected to affect the UK and Ireland.

The Met Office asked for storm name suggestions via social media and thousands flooded in.  As the scheme got underway with Storm Abigail in November 2015 the names were quickly adopted by the public, the media, and the responder organisations. The first storm of the 2016/17 season Storm Angus was named on 20 November 2016.

Over the course of the 2015/16 season 11 storms were named, and it has already demonstrated that storm-naming can make a big difference to the communication of severe weather. Storm Angus on 20 November 2016

Derek Ryall, Head of Public Weather Service at the Met Office said “By naming storms more people were made aware of the approaching threat of severe weather and were able to act on this information. A YouGov survey based on the first seven storms showed that 55% of those surveyed took steps to prepare for stormy weather after hearing that a storm had been named. People were therefore better informed.”

The Social Buzz Awards are now in their sixth year.