Abigail: Why storms with female names are more dangerous

See also: Will it be a white Christmas 2015?

Many people may be underestimating the threat Storm Abigail poses as it continues to batter Britain, - because it has a feminine sounding name.

According to study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year, storms with female names have historically killed more people, simply because they are not considered as risky as their male-named counterparts.

The study found that there were on average twice the number of deaths resulting from female-named storms or hurricane compared 'male' weather systems.

See also: Woman struck by lightning saved by her bra

"It's a form of response to feminine names that holds that they are more gentle, kinder, more nurturing, more benign, as opposed to masculine names," says researcher Sharon Shavitt, who said that people imagining a hurricane with a female name were less likely to seek shelter.

As a result, the team has recommended that the policymakers rethink the storm naming system.

The Washington Post reports that researchers at the University of Illinois and Arizona State University examined six decades of hurricane death rates according to gender, spanning 1950 and 2012. Of the 47 most damaging hurricanes, the female-named hurricanes produced an average of 45 deaths compared to 23 deaths in male-named storms, or almost double the number of fatalities. (The study excluded Katrina and Audrey, outlier storms that would skew the model).