Two pioneering Irish women in the world of meteorology with the same first name will be honoured in the list of storms for 2026/2027.Evelyn Murphy was the first woman to work as a meteorologist in Met Éireann and the first female meteorologist to present the forecast on RTÉ television in 1983. She went on to head the marine unit and led the creation of the Irish Marine Data Buoy Observation Network.Evelyn Cusack was the first female head of forecasting at Met Éireann and one of the longest-serving forecasters on RTÉ television. She was a familiar presence on television and radio during weather events for many decades. Cusack retired in 2023 after 42 years with Met Éireann. Storm Evelyn is the fifth name listed for the forthcoming storm season, which begins on Tuesday and lasts for a calendar year. There are 21 names proposed in total but no more than the first seven or eight are usuallyused in an average year. There were five named storms last year – Amy, Bram, Claudia, Chandra and Dave. The most was 14 in 2024/2025 and the least was four in 2022/2023. The naming of storms began in 2015 with Met Éireann and the UK Met Office. The Dutch weather service, KNMI, joined in 2019. Each weather service gets to name seven of the 21 storms. Storm Austen is named after Austen Nagle, the first director of the Irish Meteorological Service. Despite its Irish name, Storm Finn was nominated by the UK Met Office after a mother who said her two-year-old son Finn was “wild”. [ El Niño could cause Ireland to have unseasonably warm autumnOpens in new window ]Storm Kilian is named after Kilian Rohan, the director of the Irish Meteorological Service in 1978-1981. Storm Miriam is named after Miriam Lyons, the first woman to work in Met Éireann as an operational meteorological officer. She was also the first Irish woman to fly in a jet fighter when posted to Casement Aerodrome. Of the list of 21 names, each of the national partners has contributed seven names. Met Éireann’s selection features three names, Heather, Laoise and Phelim, derived from a longlist of nominations proposed through a public campaign last year.Met Éireann head of forecasting division Eoin Sherlock said it has been proven that naming storms “makes it easier for people to track important and up to date forecast and safety-related information as we can see from the levels of traffic and activity through our website and across social media platforms during storm events”.