Inclement

When:

Lookups spiked on January 26, 2015.

Why:

Predictions for a dangerous winter storm of historic proportions was the principal media fixation for several days leading up to the first snowflakes. Even though New York City was spared the worst of the storm's impact, parts of New England did receive over 30" of snow.

Inclement means "stormy" and is made up of the negative prefix in- and the word clement - a word borrowed directly from Latin that means "mild." Inclement also has the archaic meaning "unmerciful," linking it to the related word clemency, which can mean both "kind or merciful treatment of someone who could be given harsh punishment" and "pleasant mildness of weather.