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In this blog, weather junkies on the Southeast Missourian staff talk about (what else?) the weather. Give us your observations, folk wisdom and Farmers Almanac tales -- it's a weather free for all.
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Create your own weather crisis

Posted Tuesday, May 11, 2010, at 11:52 AM

This has been the year for made-up words describing crazy weather phenomena, starting with Snowpocalypse, then Snowicane, and finally yesterday's Tornadogeddon. Welcome to Hypefest 2010.

As this article explains, the motivation for coining new weather words comes from the need for weather forecasters to drum up ratings, but also for the chance at 15 minutes of Internet fame.

Earlier this year, the National Weather Service criticized AccuWeather for using the term "Snowicane" to describe a snowstorm that vaguely resembled a tropical storm on satellite, if you squinted your eyes and looked at the animation just right. Back in my day (2008), we called these things "blizzards", an now-archaic term apparently not found in modern dictionaries.

What's next in the Wide World of Wacky Weather Words? The sky is the limit!

Since there's a chance of heavy rain in the forecast, we might be in store for Floodastrophe 2010. Or the Floodergency. Perhaps the Rainoclysm? Or better yet, the Great Destructoflood of Oh Ten. (Then again, maybe somebody in Nashville has already trademarked one of these terms.)

As a public service, we here at Weather Or Not have developed a new system that takes the guess work out of coining new weather-related, hype-enhanced, panic-inducing buzzwords. Simply choose a base word from Column A, add a suffix from Column B, and put the two together. In just seconds, you can create your own weather crisis!

Column A....... Column B

Flood -clysm

Hail -ageddon

Gust -burst

Wind -icane

Tornado -astrophe

Storm -alamity

Thunder -crisis

Drought -crash

Blizzard -panic

Rain -down

Snow -quake

Ice -surge

Freeze -matic

Heat -machine

Oil Spill -crunch

For extra dramatic effect, you can place your new word into one of these handy phrases:

Killer ... of 2010

The Great ... of 2010

The ... of 2010 Sponsored By Al Gore

The ... of the Century

Monster ... of the Millennium

The Tri-State ...

Billion Dollar ... of 2010

... of 2010 Caused By Global Warming Climate Change

The Perfect ...

Worst ... of a Lifetime

Here are some examples:

The Tornadoclysm of 2010

Killer Stormastrophe of 2010

The Tri-State Hailamity

The Blizzardgeddon of '79

The Great Droughticane of 2010 (well, they can't all be winners)

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  • How about The Great Patchy Fogastrophe of Tuesday Morning?

    The Tri-State PowerShower, Part X of 2010?

    The Temporary Cold-Snap Calamity ...

    Thanks for the blog, James.

    Bob Miller

    -- Posted by BobMiller on Tue, May 11, 2010, at 1:12 PM

  • I still prefer the ol' standby of yesteryear: A TOAD-STRANGLER, for a heavy-rain, as my Mom would put it.

    Dad had a description that was a little-more non-PC, so I won't waste my time typing it.

    Well, other than to say it involved a FLOATING-"item".

    (And, YES, I still type, instead of "word-process"!)☺

    -- Posted by donknome-2 on Wed, May 12, 2010, at 8:52 AM

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