This thread has been a delightful start to my day. Thank you all!
As others have said, 'bomb' is indeed a meteorological term. I heard the weathermen use it years ago when I lived up in the northeast Ohio showbelt; and those guys were as non-hype as you could get - really excellent weather reporters who were actual meteorologists.
In our 24/7 news cycle, everything is hype. But as others have said, if you live up north, you take your winter weather seriously. The town I grew up in got 69 inches of snow during Nov 9-11, '96. I lived a couple towns away from ground zero and got about 50". It got warm again and the snow was all gone a couple weeks later. Kids loved it though
