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Meteorologists are running out of adjectives to describe the East Coast blizzard

by Brian Resnick
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Brian Resnick
Brian Resnick was Vox’s science and health editor and is the co-creator of Unexplainable, Vox’s podcast about unanswered questions in science.

Meteorologists and weather reporters are running out of adjectives to describe the blizzard that is set to hit the East Coast this weekend.

From their tweets (see below), I gather this “incredible” “blockbuster” storm is going to “absolutely crush” with “bonkers” snowfall gradients that could dump so much “flaky white doom” you should “think of your roofs.”

Or as meteorologist Eric Holthaus, writing in Slate, puts it: “Only religious texts can adequately describe the top-end snowfall scenarios that some weather models are insisting.”

Maybe it’s just the sheer awe of it: Isn’t it amazing to witness the full-bore power of ALMIGHTY WINTER? Or maybe these forecasters are trying to figure out how to get people to take this storm seriously.

Whatever it is, weather watchers are getting creative in their apocalyptic descriptions. (Not that the warnings are unwarranted: Nearly the entire mid-Atlantic is under either a blizzard watch or warning. Stay safe this weekend!)

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