Ahhh, Nuclear Winter is definitely the best kind of apocalypse, and is in fact, the choice for my own passion project - though it's in-part because of the tone it can bring. Where Zombies is the perfect proving grounds to provide commentary on humans nature, and Floods are perfect if you're a bible thumper or your name is Roland Emmerich, it's Nuclear Winter that really lets you delve into true ennui and nihilism.

There is no such thing as an accidental, or incidental Nuclear Winter - it is an absolute end result of human failings. Mad Max style deserts are full of heat, but heat an the excess of energy, things can grow in heat, things survive in heat. Nothing survives in unending cold - nothing survives when with each passing second, people and things are burning the last calories in a closed and dying cycle of energy, just with their body heat, with their sweat, the colossal energy it takes for the human brain to function. It's the only situation, where you can really challenge the fundamental principles and ideals of hope, survival, and the meaning of existence.

...uh. Anyways to actually contribute something to the conversation...

Survival is can be broken down often to in something called the 3-3-3 rule, or sometimes, the 3-3-3-3. Basically, each 3 means something that you can't go without for a certain amount of time. 3 minutes without air, you're dead. 3 hours without shelter, you're dead. 3 days without water, you're dead. 3 weeks without food, you're dead (though that's pretty generous, people are in serious trouble after going without 1 week). This can also be expanded further to 3 months without companionship, but that's pretty subjective.

A lot of your tools to prolong your survival are based on your environment. If something were to happen where I live right now, I'd be pretty screwed. Nuclear Winter in particular is really harsh, to varying degrees, because it means that for the first 10 or 20 years or so, you can't be in any prolonged contact with anything 'on the surface'. No irradiated water, no irradiated clothes, no irradiated buildings, no irradiated people, plants, or animals. Basically, you need a bunker with at least 6 months food, a lot of iodine.

Interesting Chaos, but to be honest, the winter would need to spread out from its original starting points. This would last around..... I'd say 2-3 months but I'm no expert. Allowing you to grow (or better yet steal) all the food and temporary farm supplies you need for your shiny new bunker. Although come to think of it sunlight would be a problem.....

Anyways, for me, I like the idea of a zombie apocalypse to survive in. Mainly because of all the things you could do and the creativity of it. For example, some movies have unique forms of weapons which are normally a hellish form of farming tools, which I love because they show creativity ( and not to mention is completely badass) . Also I can scavenge, farm, and make a form of shelter.

I would choose zombie apocalypse because it would never happen. Slow weak feeble things that are practically made to be killed en mass would be easily quarantined and dealt with. And if somehow it did happen, the zombies would be the least of your worries anyway.

Come on give us some new interesting apocalypses like out of control nanomachines that turn everyone into depraved sexual furries or something like that.

@Jordan

"Nuclear Winter" can happen any time of the year, it is not dependent on season. The term describes a forced weather pattern that occurs when ash and dust enters the air for a prolonged period of time, anything between a few weeks to several hundred years (if the dust forms a cloud in orbit). The end result appears to be like winter, due to the intense temperature drops from a lack of sunlight. No plants are getting sunlight, mold rises and then falls, nothing has anything to eat.

I actually had a fear of zombies when I was younger. One of the things that really destroyed that fear was thinking of the physics of it. Sure, "Solanum" might be toxic to bacteria so they decay very slowly, but come spring every zombie is going to thaw out to cell-damaged soup. That is, if they even make it that far. If zombies don't cannibalize, IE: they aren't a self-solving problem, then where the hell do they get the energy to move?

@Chaos

For one, sorry for the late reply, Internet died for a few days.

Also I mean that the initial blast would take a while to spread the dust and ash to the air and result in winter. This would give some time to prepare. Not much time, but just enough for anarchy and for the government to get involved.