Weather Channel Names Next Storm After Stephen Colbert For Pettiest Reason

It’s raining shade.

On March 13, Stephen Colbert poked fun at The Weather Channel on “The Late Show ” for the name they gave the winter storm that hit the northeastern United States on Tuesday: Stella.

“The Weather Channel has no authority to name anything,” Colbert said Monday night , before the storm hit. “They are not part of the government. In fact, I have as much authority to name things as they do.”

The host suggested the storm be renamed “Winter Storm Crazy Balls,” considering that Stella was predicted to drop 18 inches of snow , even though the temperatures in New York City the previous week were in the 60s.

Upon seeing the segment, The Weather Channel decided to respond in the funniest — and frostiest — way possible. The network announced that the third storm of the 2017–18 winter season will be named Winter Storm Colbert.

“This is absolutely real, folks,” winter weather expert Tom Niziol of The Weather Channel said on March 15.

“It’s impossible to say exactly how this storm is going to perform, but our experts here have assigned it the name Colbert because very early forecasts are indicating that the storm starts small, really small,” Niziol continued. “But after a few false starts in the Chicago area, the system will eventually move on toward New York, where it looks like Colbert will build momentum on the back of a much bigger and better lead-in storm.”

Ouch.

Although Colbert did graciously acknowledge  the honor that night on “The Late Show,” here’s hoping there will soon be a forecast for more hilarious weather-related burns.