Australian Bureau of Meteorology Name Change Sparks Storm

Tropical Cyclone Yasi, pictured on the far upper right portion of the map, is heading toward northern Queensland. It was upgraded to a category 5 on Tuesday. Australia Bureau of Meteorology

The Bureau of Meteorology’s unexpected $70,000 (US$44,000) rebranding of its nickname under the former government has sparked a maelstrom of bemused and waggish responses.

The national weather forecaster asked media outlets to stop referring to it by its longstanding household nickname, “the BoM”, or “the Weather Bureau”.