Man, I can’t believe it: it’s snowing outside! Big, wet sloppy flakes mixed with rain. The leaves aren’t even off the trees yet! And they’re forecasting 2" up on the Upper Hillside area for tonight!
I repeat: GAAAAHHHHHH!!
“Termination Dust”?? 
We got snow to the South, West and North of us in the past week… but somehow it missed us. We got rain despite it being cold.
Unreal. It’s 82 degrees out and I’m baking in this house, even in shorts and a tank top.
I live in Florida. It was 90 degrees today and I have central air conditioning. I love my life…
As in the termination of summer, perhaps?
I don’t think anyone is positive as to the original meaning, but the best guess is that back in the Yukon gold rush, the first snow signaled the end of the prospecting for the year, hence “termination”.
It’s common usage here, of course.
This afternoon, the clouds lifted and revealed the Chugach Range with a good dusting of snow to an alarmingly low altitude. Nothing stuck here below, since the ground isn’t yet frozen. Hell, we haven’t even had a frost yet.
Hopefully, this is just an early fluke and not an indication of a long, hard winter.
Shame about that. Here in Atlanta, we’re having some beautiful fall weather. Nice and cool in the evenings. No running the AC 24-7. Ahh, bliss!
We’re finally cooling down – highs are down to the upper 80s, lows occasionally dipping into the 60s. The real blessing is that the humidity is below 90%. I keep hearing about it snowing other places and find it hard to reconcile with what’s outside my door!
Thanks for the explanation, Chefguy. 
You’re welcome. Actually, by February the novelty has pretty much worn off and it’s just called either “Six feet of partly cloudy” or &*%#@!!
Hmm… I thought it always snowed in Alaska?
Get a grip.
Alternate explanation: it’s something of a “pink slip” for the seasonal/tourism wokers.