Netherlands contributes Chandra, Eddie, Hanna, Janna to upcoming season's storm names
The Netherlands has contributed seven names for storms in the upcoming season - Chandra, Eddie, Hannah, Janna, Lilith, Nico, and Wubbo, the KNMI announced. The third storm of the 2025-26 storm season will have a Dutch name. The first storm will be named Amy, a British entry, and the second will have the Irish storm name Bram.
The name Chandra was submitted to the KNMI as a storm name suggestion by a visitor to the meteorological institute’s open day in October last year. Chandra is the name of the Hindu god of the moon.
“Eddie was submitted because it’s an international name,” the KNMI said. One visitor suggested Janna in memory of her grandmother, who endured many storms in the 96 years of her lifetime. The name Lilith, which means “belonging to the night,” was submitted because of the havoc a storm can cause. Nico comes from the grandson of a former KNMI employee. Hannah was submitted by a girl with the same name who finds storms interesting. And Wubbo was submitted as a tribute to Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutch person to fly into space.
The 2025-26 storm season starts today. The Dutch meteorological institute teamed up with its counterparts Met Office in Great Britain and Met Éireann in Ireland, to name severe storms. The weather services hope to increase people’s awareness of dangerous weather by putting a name to it.
The Netherlands joined the collaboration in 2019. Storms for which the KNMI issues a code orange or red for strong winds get a name. In some special cases, a code yellow storm can also get a name.
