Boy, the groundhog sure got it right. He forecast six more weeks of winter. Given the relentless cold and snow we’ve had since then, six more months of winter is more like it.

In some parts of the country (especially New England and Long Island), all that snow was blown in by a blizzard. With folks still shoveling out of drifts taller than the Budweiser Clydesdales, you may be interested to learn how the word blizzard entered America’s vocabulary.

Blame it on, of all things, a blizzard. But it didn’t start that way. Continue reading →