Here comes Elaine again – why the naming of storms is a washout | Natalie Haynes

We've managed perfectly well for centuries calling it 'that bloody rain'. But now weather forecasters want to start personifying the weather

The naming of storms is a difficult matter, as TS Eliot might have said, if he hadn't been so distracted by cats. Only last year scientists discovered that Americans failed to take storms seriously when the weather system was given a female name. The most lethal female-named hurricanes have notched up almost twice the death tolls of their male-named counterparts because, one presumes, too many Americans have assumed that lady-storms are just making a fuss about nothing and can safely be ignored until they go off in a huff.

Related: ID of the storm: Met Office invites public to name severe weather systems