Pitch Your Perfect Storm

The British Met Office, for the first time, now name incoming storms.

When announced I was a sceptic.

They are not an institution I hold in particularly high regard.

Are our winters really that terror-strewn?

And would it make us a disrespectful laughing stock? Compared to the protocol of naming hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that is both so well established and truly life threatening.

Then I saw the published list of imminent labels, as voted for by the public.

The British sense of humour shone through.

Abigail. That’s the first ever. A Big Gale.

Full marks.

I became less frigorific.

Then I noted the affect. After an initial hiccup by forecasters over whether Abigail was or was not knocking, she duly arrived. As you can see from my pic up top.

Just a few short days later, the season’s second storm blew through; Barney.

In both cases, you couldn’t escape hearing people talk about them. By name.

This did not appear a novelty.

Having such an identifiable label gave nasty weather warnings greater impact.

More people knew, looked out, discussed and spread the word.

A definite win.

And so it goes for your big sell.

For Storm [cute given name], read Project [punchy evocative label].

Coin the name, coin it in.