"snowpocalypse" seems to have originated two years ago in the northwest US (Seattle). I'm guessing the folks in panacea1's beloved adopted home state didn't want to be associated with Seattle, so they coined "snowmageddon".
I wonder if either term had been used in the 2004 movie, The Day After Tomorrow. I don't recall having only seen it once on VHS back then.
"Snowpocalypse" has been traced to December 2005 (http://rbohlender.blogspot.com/2005/12/snowpocalypse-is-upon-us.html) (noted by Ben Zimmer (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2166/) this January). Of course, it could easily have been independently re-invented.
See also, if you feel like it: Arnold Zwicky (http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/portmansnow-round-2/), and the American Dialect Society archive (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S2=ADS-L&q=snowpocalypse&s=&f=&a=&b=), which is where I reached these from.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-02-25 12:35 am (UTC)That might have been "snowmageddon" though. I lose track of other people's snow.
(Actually, I've lost track of my own snow. It's gone. Do you know where it went?)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-25 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-25 01:16 am (UTC)I wonder if either term had been used in the 2004 movie, The Day After Tomorrow. I don't recall having only seen it once on VHS back then.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-26 08:12 pm (UTC)The latest version seems to be "snurricane" now.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-17 02:35 am (UTC)See also, if you feel like it: Arnold Zwicky (http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/portmansnow-round-2/), and the American Dialect Society archive (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S2=ADS-L&q=snowpocalypse&s=&f=&a=&b=), which is where I reached these from.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-17 07:29 pm (UTC)