Dughlas Stiubhart
It's good to be Stew
This is from The Dictionary of American Regional English. It appears it's mostly a Nevada word with many variant spellings and pronunciations (including a "k" sound as Smoke used). The first known written record was 1865.
pogonip n Also pogonip fog, ~ frost Also sp poganip; for addit varr see quots [Paiute] chiefly NV Cf tule fog n
A dense, icy fog; formerly also a severe snowstorm.
[1865 (1973) Stuart Montana as it Is 29, [Snake Indian words:] Fog—Pag′-in-up.] 1869 Overland Mth. 3.212 NV, Pogonip Flat offers no shelter whatever from the fury of the bleak, cutting blasts . . ; and here, too, it is that the dense piercing fog hangs from hour to hour in the dull dreary days of the winter. Hence “Pogonip” is now the conventional term for a roaring, piercing, cutting, bleak, merciless snow-storm, with all the furies of Boreas cut loose and filling the air with hideous noises. 1892 Scientific Amer. 16 Apr 240, The pogonip fog is peculiar to elevated altitudes in the Nevada Sierras. 1910 Hodge Hdbk. Amer. Indians 2.272, Pogonip. A Shoshonean term used in Nevada to designate a peculiar fog that occasionally visits the mountain country in winter. The sun is obscured, usually during the entire day, and sometimes for days, while the air is charged with a heavy fog in which fine particles of snow seem to be flying. Although the temperature may not be low, intense cold is felt on account of the unusual humidity that prevails. 1940 Writers’ Program Guide NV 10, A most unusual dense fog, known as pogonip, appears at times during the winter, covering everything with beautiful radiating frost crystals. 1957 AmSp 32.310, Pogonip, a Shoshonean word, means an icy fog. . . The word lives also in the name of the Pogonip Golf Club. This club is just outside the little coastal town of Santa Cruz, California. The chilling fog is well known in the area. 1968 DARE FW Addit NV, Pogonip . . [ˈpɑgənɪp]—A fog that freezes onto trees and bushes. When you see a fog in the mountains in winter, “there will be pogonip in the morning.” Only during very cold weather (for Nevada). Same phenomenon as very heavy frost in Wisconsin, etc. 1971 Bright Word Geog. CA & NV 110, [Indian terms:] [Poganip—1 response for ‘warm wind in winter’. “Used by older brother and other folks.”] . . poganip frost—4 responses. (One informant used the [k] sound instead of the [g].) “So called by the Paiute Indians.” “Very severe.” . . pogalip—1 response. “Very heavy foggy weather—an Indian term.”
pogonip n Also pogonip fog, ~ frost Also sp poganip; for addit varr see quots [Paiute] chiefly NV Cf tule fog n
A dense, icy fog; formerly also a severe snowstorm.
[1865 (1973) Stuart Montana as it Is 29, [Snake Indian words:] Fog—Pag′-in-up.] 1869 Overland Mth. 3.212 NV, Pogonip Flat offers no shelter whatever from the fury of the bleak, cutting blasts . . ; and here, too, it is that the dense piercing fog hangs from hour to hour in the dull dreary days of the winter. Hence “Pogonip” is now the conventional term for a roaring, piercing, cutting, bleak, merciless snow-storm, with all the furies of Boreas cut loose and filling the air with hideous noises. 1892 Scientific Amer. 16 Apr 240, The pogonip fog is peculiar to elevated altitudes in the Nevada Sierras. 1910 Hodge Hdbk. Amer. Indians 2.272, Pogonip. A Shoshonean term used in Nevada to designate a peculiar fog that occasionally visits the mountain country in winter. The sun is obscured, usually during the entire day, and sometimes for days, while the air is charged with a heavy fog in which fine particles of snow seem to be flying. Although the temperature may not be low, intense cold is felt on account of the unusual humidity that prevails. 1940 Writers’ Program Guide NV 10, A most unusual dense fog, known as pogonip, appears at times during the winter, covering everything with beautiful radiating frost crystals. 1957 AmSp 32.310, Pogonip, a Shoshonean word, means an icy fog. . . The word lives also in the name of the Pogonip Golf Club. This club is just outside the little coastal town of Santa Cruz, California. The chilling fog is well known in the area. 1968 DARE FW Addit NV, Pogonip . . [ˈpɑgənɪp]—A fog that freezes onto trees and bushes. When you see a fog in the mountains in winter, “there will be pogonip in the morning.” Only during very cold weather (for Nevada). Same phenomenon as very heavy frost in Wisconsin, etc. 1971 Bright Word Geog. CA & NV 110, [Indian terms:] [Poganip—1 response for ‘warm wind in winter’. “Used by older brother and other folks.”] . . poganip frost—4 responses. (One informant used the [k] sound instead of the [g].) “So called by the Paiute Indians.” “Very severe.” . . pogalip—1 response. “Very heavy foggy weather—an Indian term.”
So it's pointless unpleasantness. Yes, it's beautiful when the sun comes out and shines on the frosted everything...but that can come after days of unpleasantness. Bah humbug! 
