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Weird Word Wednesdays: Haboob, snowpocalypse and derecho

For today’s Weird Word Wednesday, let’s look at three words related to weather: Haboob, snowpocalypse and derecho.

Here’s what www.dictionary.com says about these words:

haboob

Pronunciation: [ huh-boob ]

Part of speech: Noun

Definition: A thick dust storm or sandstorm that blows in the deserts of North Africa and Arabia or on the plains of India.

Language origin: Arabic

snowpocalypse

Pronunciation: [ snoh-pok-uh-lips ]

Part of speech: Noun

Definition: A word that is a blend of the words “snow” and “apocalypse” and that means a major winter storm.

Language origin: Slang

derecho

Pronunciation: [ duh-rey-choh ]

Part of speech: Noun

Definition: A widespread and severe windstorm that moves rapidly along a fairly straight path and is associated with bands of rapidly moving thunderstorms.

Language origin: Spanish

On the plains of West Texas where I grew up, we could have all three in the same day. We’d just call it “Texas Weather”.

Posted in Pamela, Weird Word Wednesdays