THE Met Office has revealed the names of any potential storms that may hit the UK this year.

So far East Lancashire has been battered by Storm Brendan, Ciara and Dennis this year, with Brendan rolling in on January 13, and the subsequent storms coming in February 8 and 15.

Alternating male and female names are used to name storms which come from the Atlantic basin throughout the year and are agreed by the World Meteorological Organisation.

A new list of names would be compiled between the Met Éireann - the Irish meteorological service, the Met Office and the KNMI - the Dutch national weather forecasting service.

The next three storms will be named Ellen, Francis and Gerda.