Heatwaves in the UK may start to be given names in a trial this year
With the Met Office already naming storms, a committee of MPs thinks doing the same for heatwaves will similarly increase awareness and communication.
It has been shown that giving a name to severe weather increases the communication and importantly the action people take to protect themselves and property.
The Met Office started naming autumn and winter storms in 2015 to increase awareness and it is now common to hear about named storms, such as the three - Henk, Isha and Jocelyn - the UK experienced in January 2024.
Professor Lea Berrang Ford of the UK Health Security Agency told the Environmental Audit Committee there is insufficient evidence that naming heatwaves is effective.
However, the European heatwave of 2023 was named Cerberus by an Italian meteorological service after the three-headed monster referred to in Greek mythology and Dante's Inferno.
Cerberus went viral with many European media outlets using the name in reporting and communicating risks associated with the heat.
Among its recommendations, the Audit Committee suggest that the Met Office trial naming heatwaves in 2024 with a view that if successful, it is adopted permanently.
In 2023 the UK's Health Security Agency in partnership with the Met Office expanded the Heat-health Alert Service to describe expected impacts and how to deal with it.
This system now better complements the Met Office's Severe Weather Warning Service who are responsible for issuing warnings for heat.
There may also need to be a shift in our cultural attitudes to heat.
Rather than viewing a warm spell as a pleasant period of weather for people to enjoy, people in the UK might need to become more aware that when heat becomes extreme, there are increased health risks.
