Transmission towers and lines with snow in East Texas

Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, and Snowzilla are

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

s of the word "snow" with "

Armageddon Armageddon ( ; ; ; from ) is the prophesied gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, according to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Armageddon is variously interpreted as either a literal or a ...

", "

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

", and "

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

" respectively. Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse were used in the popular press in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

during January 2009, and was also used in January 2010 by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reporter

Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...

to characterise the sensationalist reaction of television news to a period of snowfall across the UK. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', out of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, ran an online poll asking for reader feedback prior to the February 5–6, 2010 North American blizzard on February 4, 2010, and several

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s, including the ''Washington Post''s own blog, followed that up by using either "Snowmageddon" or "Snowpocalypse" before, during, and after the storm hit. ''The Washington Post'' also popularized the term "kaisersnoze" (see Keyser Söze) in response to the February snowstorms. During the evening preceding the first blizzard hitting Washington, D.C., most of the

United States federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

closed, and press coverage continued to characterize the storm using either "Snowmageddon", "Snowpocalypse", or both. The term "Snowpocalypse" was used in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

to refer to a snowstorm in December 2008. The 2008 children's book ''Winter Blast'' by

Chris Wright Christopher Allen Wright (born January 15, 1965) is an American government official, engineer, and businessman serving as the 17th United States Secretary of Energy, United States secretary of energy since 2025. Before his appointment, he was th ...

, uses the term "snowmageddon" in the storyline of the book.

Examples

* The Great Blizzard of '93 * North American blizzard of 2009 (SnowpocalypseCapital Weather Gang
/ref>) * February 5–6, 2010 North American blizzard (Snowmageddon) * February 9–10, 2010 North American blizzard (Snowmageddon: Snoverkill) * February 25–27, 2010 North American blizzard (Snowicane) * December 2010 North American blizzard *

January 31 – February 2, 2011 North American blizzard The 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard was a powerful and historic winter storm that affected large swaths of the United States and Canada from January 31 to February 2, 2011, especially on Groundhog Day. During the initial stages of the storm, some me ...

* February 2013 nor'easter * January 2014 Gulf Coast winter storm (remembered as Snowmageddon in Atlanta) * Early 2014 North American cold wave * November 13 – 21, 2014 North American winter storm * A series of storms in winter 2015 that broke snowfall records in Boston, Massachusetts (Snowmageddon, snowpocalypse) *

January 2016 United States blizzard The January 2016 United States blizzard was a deadly, historic and crippling blizzard that produced up to of snow in parts of the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States during January 22–24, 2016. A weath ...

(Snowzilla) * Winter of 2009–2010 in the United Kingdom * Winter of 2010–2011 in the United Kingdom * January 17, 2020 in St. John's, Canada blizzard (Snowmageddon) *

February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm The February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm was a crippling winter storm, winter and ice storm that had widespread impacts across the United States, Northern Mexico, and parts of Canada from February 13 to 17, 2021. The storm, unoff ...

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Cite web , last = , first = , title = Snowpocalypse Now , url = http://www.northkitsapherald.com/news/36658439.html , publisher = North Kitsap Herald , date = 23 December 2008 , accessdate = 17 January 2012 , archive-date = 3 April 2016 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160403231440/http://www.northkitsapherald.com/news/36658439.html , url-status = live {{Cite web , last = Wheaton , first = Sarah , title = Snowpocalypse Now, and Then , url = http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/snowpocalypse-now-and-then/ , work =

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, date = 19 December 2009 , accessdate = 17 January 2012 , archive-date = 4 December 2013 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131204081555/http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/snowpocalypse-now-and-then/ , url-status = live 2000s neologisms Popular culture neologisms Winter weather events

Examples

See also

References