Snowmageddon

{{Short description|Portmanteau referring to a severe snowstorm}}

File:Transmission towers and lines with snow in East Texas.jpg

Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, and Snowzilla are portmanteaus of the word "snow" with "Armageddon", "Apocalypse", and "Godzilla" respectively. Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse were used in the popular press in Canada during January 2009,{{Cite news|url=http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2276849|accessdate=February 11, 2010|title=Mild winter easy on city budget|date=January 26, 2010|first=Heather|last=Ibbotson|newspaper=Brantford Expositor|quote="At this time last year, we were referring to it as snowmageddon," Madden said.|archive-date=March 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319195119/http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2276849|url-status=live}} and was also used in January 2010 by The Guardian reporter Charlie Brooker to characterise the sensationalist reaction of television news to a period of snowfall across the UK.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jan/16/charlie-brooker-screen-burn|accessdate=February 11, 2010|title=Charlie Brooker's Screen burn|first=Charlie|last=Brooker|authorlink=Charlie Brooker|date=January 16, 2010|newspaper=The Guardian|quote=As far as the 24-hour rolling networks were concerned, this wasn't a freak weather condition. This was war. Death from the skies. Earth versus the Ice Warriors. Snowmageddon.}} The Washington Post, out of Washington, D.C., ran an online poll asking for reader feedback prior to the February 5–6, 2010 North American blizzard on February 4, 2010,{{Cite news|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/02/poll_storm_nametwitter_hashtag.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628225200/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/02/poll_storm_nametwitter_hashtag.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 28, 2012|accessdate=February 11, 2010|title=Vote for storm name, Twitter hashtag & snow total|date=February 4, 2010|newspaper=Washington Post}} and several blogs, including the Washington Post{{'}}s own blog, followed that up by using either "Snowmageddon" or "Snowpocalypse" before, during, and after the storm hit.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/us/06storm.html|accessdate=February 11, 2010|title=East Coast Is Hit by 'Potentially Epic Snowstorm'|first1=John M.|last1=Broder|first2=Jack|last2=Healy|date=February 5, 2010|newspaper=The New York Times|quote=bracing for what newspapers and bloggers have been calling the “snowpocalypse,” or “snowmageddon,”|archive-date=February 11, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211040300/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/us/06storm.html|url-status=live}}

The Washington Post also popularized the term "kaisersnoze" (see Keyser Söze) in response to the February snowstorms.{{Cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/washingtons-new-four-letter-word-snow/|access-date=February 12, 2010|title=Washington's New Four-Letter Word: Snow|first1=Dan M.|last1=Gainor|date=February 10, 2010|agency=Reuters|publisher=Fox News|quote=D.C. residents have turned to social media like Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustration with terms like “snOMG,” “snowmageddon”, “snowpocalypse”, and “kaisersnoze”.|archive-date=July 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731165349/https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/washingtons-new-four-letter-word-snow|url-status=live}}

During the evening preceding the first blizzard hitting Washington, D.C., most of the United States federal government closed, and press coverage continued to characterize the storm using either "Snowmageddon", "Snowpocalypse", or both.{{Cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3HVBhfkkHN4c9TlIAxNkxjbwR0A|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213022711/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3HVBhfkkHN4c9TlIAxNkxjbwR0A|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 13, 2010|accessdate=February 11, 2010|title=Powerful blizzard shuts down US capital|date=February 5, 2010|agency=AFP|quote=The storm, dubbed "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmageddon" by many locals,}}

The term "Snowpocalypse" was used in the Pacific Northwest to refer to a snowstorm in December 2008.

The 2008 children's book Winter Blast by Chris Wright, uses the term "snowmageddon" in the storyline of the book.{{Cite book|url=http://www.mountainvalleypublishing.com/winterblast.asp|accessdate=February 11, 2010|title=Winter Blast|first=Chris|last=Wright|authorlink=Christopher Wright (author)|year=2008|publisher=Mountain Valley Publishing|isbn=978-1-934940-10-5|archive-date=2009-01-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105085200/http://www.mountainvalleypublishing.com/winterblast.asp|url-status=live}}