Given that in previous years the media has used up the words “Snowmaggedon” and “Snowpocalypse” to describe epic winter storms, they need to come up with new ones for the most recent slamming the East Coast.  The Red-Headed Menace suggested “Snapture.” Even better, Railfan offered “Snoverkill.”

Anything but whatever stupid name the Weather Channel has given it.  Seriously, there are good reasons the National Weather Service does not name blizzards.  Winter storms are disorganized, and can stretch all the way across the country.  They’re not like hurricanes, which are discrete events with more or less defined paths and specific circulation patterns.  You can have a summer storm which causes massive flooding and damage, but unless it has circular, sustained winds of at least seventy miles an hour, the NWS is not going to call it a hurricane. Just having cold weather and a crapload (that’s a technical term) of snow does not a winter equivalent of a hurricane.

I really do like “Snoverkill.”

In any case, to my friends along the East Coast and Midwest, I hope you stay warm. Currently, the temperatures in parts of Canada are roughly the same as … on Mars.