Meteorologists have been naming high and low pressure areas in the daily Berlin weather map for the past 65 years. In 2002 they decided to let everybody join in through the Adopt-a-Vortex program. The fees collected are used to continue the weather observations in Berlin-Dahlem by students. This makes it possible to continue the climate series at Freie Universität Berlin, which has been ongoing for more than 110 years and is one of the longest in the world. The work is also important practical training for the students.

A weather sponsorship is a popular and rather unique present for special occasions, birthdays, or even Christmas.  Many people use this as an opportunity to promote their interesting but little known first names. Recent examples of this are Zebedäus, Quiola, Farideh, Foelke, Claws, or Nepomuk. Several will be remembered for meteorological reasons: In February a series of lows in connection with Sabine, Yulia, and Victoria made for a stormy and wet month across Europe, before the high Ingolf caused the weather to calm down in mid-March. During the summer, a heat wave caused by the highs Detlef and Emil will be remembered. The heat wave was interrupted by thunderstorms in connection with the low Heike in the first half of August.

Anka and Albert were the first names of weather areas to appear in the Berlin daily newspapers on November 1, 1954. In the meantime, the names are being used in the weather reports of many media. From time to time, the media also take part in the naming process, such as when the ZDF broadcaster named the low Xanthippe in February this year. The student weather observers as well as the staff of the Berliner Wetterkarte e. V. and the Institute of Meteorology hope that this continues into the future. Active public participation and presence of the names in the media are needed to ensure the weather monitoring and continuation of the multi-year climate series in the future. Please join us and the more than 3,600 people from 17 European countries as well as Brazil, Japan, the USA, and South Africa, who have already joined in the weather naming process.