The Met Office published its storm names for 2026/27 on 1 September, and the list includes Shaun, chosen by public vote as part of a collaboration with Aardman. At some point this winter a forecaster will say "Storm Shaun" with a perfectly straight face, and the rest of us will have to cope. Behind the joke is a real point: a named storm usually means a good chance of power cuts, and that is when fridges and freezers get tested.
The full list of storm names for 2026/27
Here are all 21 names in order, as published by the Met Office:
- Austen
- Boelo
- Chloe
- Dano
- Evelyn
- Finn
- Gwendolyn
- Heather
- Ivy
- Jade
- Kilian
- Laoise
- Miriam
- Nicola
- Olaf
- Phelim
- Ruban
- Shaun
- Theo
- Vesna
- Wende
The names are chosen jointly by the Met Office, Met Éireann and KNMI, the Dutch weather service, and the list skips certain letters to match international conventions. Some come from public suggestions: Chloe was nominated more than 130 times, and Ivy was nominated in honour of a nine-month-old Labrador puppy affectionately known as "the absolute destructor".
What a name means, and what last season looked like
A name is not a prediction of damage. The Met Office puts it this way: "Storms are named by the group when they have the potential to cause medium or high impacts in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands." That typically means an amber or red warning is expected at some point. Wind is the main consideration, though rain or snow can trigger a name too.
Last season was a quiet one by that measure, with four names used and the list reaching Dave in April 2026. Quiet did not mean harmless. In its season review the Met Office records that during Storm Goretti in January "A gust of 86Kt (99mph) was recorded at St Mary's Airport" on the Isles of Scilly, and during Storm Dave a gust of 81kt (93mph) at Capel Curig in Wales. It also reports that Amy in October brought gusts exceeding 92mph in exposed locations. Wind of that strength is what brings down overhead lines.
How long fridges and freezers stay safe
The Food Standards Agency's consumer advice is the usual reference point. It says "Your fridge should stay cold for up to 4 hours" in a power cut, and that food in a freezer should stay frozen "for up to 48 hours in a full freezer (or 24 hours if it's half full)". The same guidance calls these "estimates", because temperatures vary by make and model, and says to keep the doors closed as much as possible and use a fridge thermometer.
Please note that this is advice for people at home. The page itself says: "If you are a business, you should contact the food safety team at your local authority for advice." It also does not mean a commercial walk-in or a busy display cabinet will behave the same way, since insulation, stock load and how often the doors open all change the picture.
What food businesses should do
The legal baseline is on the government's food hygiene guidance for businesses. Chilled food "must be kept at 8°C or below", a legal requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and a recommendation in Scotland. It also says chilled food can be out of the fridge for up to 4 hours before it must be thrown away, and recommends setting the fridge to 5°C or below.
For a kitchen or shop, that turns into a short routine when the power goes. Keep every door shut, read the temperature rather than trusting your hand, write down the time the cut began, and be ready to make the call on stock if a unit passes 8°C. A log you started at the beginning of the cut is far easier to defend than a guess afterwards, and temperature monitoring and records make that routine much easier. When the power returns, check that each unit has restarted and is pulling down, because a unit that fails to recover is a stock risk of its own.
Checks to make before winter
- Check door seals and hinges now. A worn seal costs you the hours in the figures above.
- Find your thermometers or loggers, and test the batteries and any alarms.
- Decide who makes the stock call at 2am, and write down the 8°C and 4 hour rules where they can see them.
- Keep the number of a commercial refrigeration repair engineer somewhere that does not depend on your own network being up.
- Keep ice packs and cool boxes to hand for essential stock, and know where you could move it.
For more on how weather affects equipment, see our commercial refrigeration news.
