Any winter brings storms, but this year may be worse as the strongest El Niño in decades disrupts global weather systems, causing a lot of roof damage in the UK.
Even an average season will keep us busy delivering our roof repair services, but some are busier than others and we expect this will be the case over the coming months.
The start of meteorological autumn brings the annual publication of the named storm list by the Met Office. This is not a guarantee that every storm on the list will happen, but rather the list of names that will be used as and when storms do occur, starting alphabetically.
As a result, the first storm to arrive will be Austen, followed by Boelo and then Chloe. If the season is especially stormy, expect Olaf and then Shaun, named by fans of snowmen and animated sheep respectively.
How Many Storms Will This Year Bring?
This is the fun part, but it is no laughing matter when a severe storm hits, not least because it can cause severe damage to a roof, dislodging tiles, toppling chimneys and bringing impact damage as flying debris or falling branches produce more damage.
How many storms we will get this winter is uncertain, as past winters have varied in the number of named storms. This can be seen by what has happened over the past few years:
- In 2025-26, there were seven named storms
- In 2024-25, there were six
- 2023-24 was a bad year with 12 storms
- 2022-23 was a mild year with just two storms
While the number of storms can vary, the general expectation is that they will become increasingly more severe due to climate change, causing more roof damage.
The level of damage that can be caused to roofs in the UK can be seen from some of these recent storms:
- Insurance firm Crawford said it had received three times its normal number of claims for structural damage after Storm Goretti last winter, with roof and chimney damage among the most common reasons for a claim.
- Another storm last year, Darragh, ripped off many roofs, including one housing several business premises in Exmouth.
- In 2023, Storm Gerrit produced a tornado that tore the roofs off several houses in the Greater Manchester town of Stalybridge, with other roofs badly damaged.
This is because of a combination of warmer air making storms more powerful and greater evaporation producing greater volumes of water in clouds, leading to extra rainfall.
Why Does A Super El Nino Mean More Severe Storms?
While climate change may pose more long-term threats to property impacted by storms, this winter may be especially vulnerable due to the El Niño effect.
El Niño events happen quite frequently when Pacific sea temperatures rise, but this year has brought an unusually strong one, known as a ‘super El Niño’.
This is expected to bring a lot of disruption to global weather patterns and may have contributed to the very hot summer, but the next few months may be unusually stormy in the UK as a result.
Speaking to the BBC, head of long-range forecasts at the Met Office Adam Scaife warned that autumn looks like it will be very stormy, especially in November and into December.
This suggests 2026-27 could be one of those more severe winters, both in terms of the number of storms and the impact.
However, we have many years of expertise in carrying out roof repairs and will be ready for whatever the season brings. Whatever happens to your roof, we will be ready to help.
