With weather warnings in place, the North East is bracing itself for the strong winds of Storm Eleanor.
Following on from Storm Dylan, Eleanor will be the latest of the named storms to hit the UK.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for the North East, as well as large areas of southern Scotland and Northern Ireland from 6pm on Tuesday.
Heavy rain and possible gale force winds will hit on Tuesday evening, with a risk of snow in hilly areas.
Rain is likely to clear on Wednesday, but Eleanor with bring “blustery” conditions, with a maximum temperature of 7C.
But why exactly do we have to give this bad weather a name?
When did the UK start naming storms?
Although storms have been battering Britain since the dawn of time, the Met Office has only recently started to name them.
Storm Abigail became the UK’s first named storm in November 2015, before Desmond, Gertrude and Imogen wreaked havoc across the region over the winter.
What storms have we had this year before Eleanor?
Storm Aileen was named by the Met Office as the first storm of the 2017/18 storm season on Tuesday, September 12, and was followed by Storm Brian.
In December, we were subject to Storm Caroline, on December 10, while the worst of Storm Dylan narrowly avoided the North East on New Year’s Eve.
Why are storms being given names?
Storms are being named to raise public awareness of weather events, the Met office has said.
The single name of a storm should help the media and government agencies communicate the threats to the public and allow people to be better placed to keep themselves, their property and businesses safe.
When is a storm named?
The criteria the Met Office use for naming storms is based on the National Severe Weather Warnings service. It depends on how severe the weather will be and how likely it is that the storm will hit.
A storm will be named when it has the potential to cause an amber ‘be prepared’ or red ‘take action’ warning.
Other weather types will also be considered, specifically rain if its impact could lead to flooding as advised by the Environment Agency.
How is a storm named?
In September 2015 a ‘Name Our Storms campaign’ which led to around 10,000 suggestions and this years list includes some of the most popular of those.
This year we’ve already had storms Aileen, Brian, Caroline, Dylan, and Eleanor is due to hit the region tonight.
Who’s up next?
This year’s named storms are: Fionn, Georgina, Hector, Iona, James, Karen, Larry, Maeve, Niall, Octavia, Paul, Rebecca, Simon, Tali, Victor and Winifred.
Why are there no storms beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z?
To ensure we are in line with the US National Hurricane Centre naming conventions which decided not to include names which begin with Q, U, X, Y and Z, due to the low number of names that start with these letters.