The Met Office has launched a public vote to decide the name of a future storm, offering a choice between two characters from the animated TV series Shaun the Sheep: Shaun or his cousin Timmy the lamb.
The winning name will be included on the weather service’s official storm names list for the 2026/27 season. This initiative is a collaboration with Oscar-winning animation studio Aardman.
The Met Office's head of warnings and guidance, Holly Clements, stated that naming storms helps warnings reach more people and encourages public awareness of severe weather. The collaboration aims to engage new audiences and explain the importance of storm naming for safety.
The winning name is scheduled to be announced on 1 September. However, it is not certain that a storm named Shaun or Timmy will occur, as storm names are assigned alphabetically, and the furthest the Met Office has progressed through the alphabet was to 'L' with Storm Lilian in August 2024.