This article was supposed to be about investments that would allow you to profit from the typical cold-and-snowy weather that's part of the winter routine at this time of year.

But as everyone from Southern California to the Middle Atlantic East Coast states, and the Great Lakes to the Deep South, is painfully aware, this year's winter has been neither "routine" nor "typical" - not by a long shot.

Indeed, the so-called "snowpocalypse" of 2010 has been so fierce that pundits have already coined new terms to describe it. This run of winter bluster has actually nullified some of the usual "winter plays" - those that can be found almost every year - while at the same time creating other opportunities you might not ordinarily think of.