Snowpocalypse

Snowpocalypse (also called snowmageddon, snowzilla, or blizzaster) is a term that is the combination of the words ‘snow’ and ‘apocalypse’, referring to natural phenomena of heavy snowing or continuous blizzards in the northern hemisphere.

The portmanteau word snowpocalypse is believed to have appeared in public speech in December 2008. At the time, there was a huge snowstorm in the geographic area of the Pacific Northwest.

Later, the term eventually was popularized by journalists, TV personnel, and generally the Canadian public press during the rampage of the North American blizzard of 2009.

After the 2009 events, the media retrospectively began to refer to former great snowstorms as snowpocalypses, like the ‘Storm of the Century’, which caused devastation in several regions of the USA in the year 1993.

In January 2010, British press members Charlie Brooker from The Guardian used the term snowpocalypse to regard a heavy snowfall occurring in England at the time.

Children’s book author Chris Wright used snowmageddon in the storyline in one of his 2008 book releases, titled Winter Blast.

• Urban Dictionary – Snowpocalypse
• Twitter – #snowpocalypse